FIRES OF DESIRE FIRES DESIRE A Tragedy of Modern India By LAURENCE R. MANSFIELD Illustrations By F. GILBERT EDGE 1907 THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING Co. BOSTON Copyright, 1906. THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO., Boston, Mass. Entered at Stationer's Hall, London. Dramatic and all other RIGHTS RESERVED. CONTENTS Chapters Page I A Noble Brahmin . , I II From the Unreal to the Real ... 9 III Days of Decision . . . . .30 IV Eastward Bound . . . . -55 V The Shadow of Coming Events . . 77 VI Echoes of Bygone Times . . .92 VII From Light To Darkness . . . 117 VIII The Darkness Deepens . . . . 145 IX Among The Ruins . . . .160 X Ships That Pass 175 XI Unto The Hills 190 XII Among The Heights .... 206 XIII A Shadowy Vale and Beyond . . .226 XIV Heavens of Brass and Earth of Iron . .241 XV An Emergency Call . . . .258 XVI Fainting By The Way . . . .277 XVII A Hand Out of the Darkness . . . 297 XVIII The Bird With A Broken Pinion . .313 XIX Strong As Death . . . . .332 XX Love's Coronation . . . .347 2137220 ILLUSTRATIONS Page "Walked leisurely together, the gray-haired little woman, by the side of the tall, stalwart young man." ...... 37 " Oh," she said, " it is an evil omen of a blot upon your life." ..... 91 "May I come?" asked the voice. . . 139 " And for God's sake tell me it is not true." . 165 " Radha gathered flowers." .... 191 " Really, you ought not to try to cross tonight in the miserable scow they have here." . 267 "Mother? Where is she?" .... 298 " You must come again, Miss Everest." . 344 FIEES OF DESIEE CHAPTER I A NOBLE BRAHMIN THE boom of the half-past nine gun sounded out from Fort William. About the Maidan and in the houses near by, it reverberated so heavily that everyone not long accustomed to hearing it at close range, involuntarily started. But far away in the northern part of the city, where the Mukerji mansion stood in its spacious grounds on Cornwallis Street, the noise of the cannon sounded distant and muffle'd. As the report of the gun penetrated the silence of the great house its master stirred a little, as though he might rouse from the stupor that had been settling upon him since nightfall. He gazed listlessly about upon his attendants for a mo- ment. Then, with a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes again. The sick man's daughter had started eagerly 2 FIRES OF DESIRE towards the bed as her father had opened his eyes. But the doctor motioned her back. Her mute ap- peal he quietly answered. " It is best not to disturb him. He is not in any pain. His life is ebbing, but there is nothing we can do for him. I fear he will not last beyond midnight." Then silence fell upon the little group of anxious watchers. The barefooted, white-tur- baned servants, kept on duty late that night, moved noiselessly about, or stood in the cor- ridors speaking together in whispers 1 . Without, the streets that had been thronged all day with the noisy sons of the East, were already well- nigh deserted. The bells on the street-car horses tinkled lazily as the weary brutes jogged pain- fully along. There were heard occasional out- cries from near and far, and the rumble of car- riage wheels driven rapidly along. But the me- tropolis of India was dropping off to sleep. The few spasmodic noises were faint reminders of what had been, and of what would be again with the dawning of another day. They almost lost themselves amid the trees and shrubbery of the garden that surrounded the sick man's house. Long before the city of Calcutta had come surging and clamoring about it, the Mukerji mansion had stood in its beautiful grounds. One FIRES OF DESIRE 3 generation after another of proud possessors had done their utmost to make both house and gardens as sumptuous as any prince might desire. Broad driveways lined with stately palm trees, clumps of luxuriant shrubbery, beds and borders of resplendent flowers, graceful marble statuary and fountains, all in a setting of rich green grass, left little to be desired in the surroundings. While the great, old mansion, with its wide verandas, and vast, rambling corridors and cham- bers, was filled with rich treasures. Orient and Occident had yielded up all that wealth and cul- ture could demand for the gratification and comfort of the successive masters of that palace. In bygone days, that goodly heritage had been held by one large family of Mukerjis after an- other. They had dwelt together in patriarchal fashion, after the time-honored custom of the country. The father and mother, the sons and their wives and children, even the grandchil- dren's wives and children if the gods had granted the patriarch the bliss of a life so long as to reach unto such blessedness such was the joint-family that dwelt beneath one roof. Upon the death of his father, however, Satis Kumar Mukerji was the sole heir of all the vast estates of the ancient house. Aside from his wife and child, near kinsfolk he had none. 4 FIRES OF DESIRE He was a young man at that time. His father had given him every advantage that the coun- try afforded. At the age of twenty he had re- ceived his Bachelor's degree from the University of Calcutta. Two years later he had taken his Master's degree with high honors. Later yet, he had completed a law course and become a Bache- lor of Law. Not that Satis Kumar intended to practice law, or turn any of his other college training to pecuniary uses. His wealth was abundant; his only serious occupation would be the management of his estates. He was not a man of very strenuous purposes in those days. The climate of Bengal, and sufficient income to make toil needless, usually see to it that a man is not. The religious earnestness and other- worldli- ness, so characteristic of the children of India, had been dissipated by studies in Western sci- ence and philosophy. He knew too much to be a devout and orthodox Hindu. He knew too little to be able to conceive of anything more worthy of credence in the way of religion. He would probably have called himself an agnostic. In reality, he was simply in the confusion of a transitional period of his religious life, and was trying to escape its difficulties by indifference and levity. After all, what need had young FIRES OF DESIRE 5 Mukerji to distress himself over the turmoil caused by the introduction of the new wine of Western culture and Christianity into the old wine-skins of effete Orientalism and Hinduism? Was he not a Brahmin of the Brahmins? Did he not wear the name of one of the original four noble families of Bengal? Had he not such a physique as few of his fellow-countrymen could boast? How many could display higher aca- demic honors, or more princely wealth? And even though he was the only son of his father, and had but one son of his own, was not that son a wonderful child? and would he not per- petuate a noble line? With such thoughts, at least, the young man had sought to quiet his restlessness and satisfy his longings. So a number of years had passed, bringing but little change to the proud young Brahmin or his family. Then there suddenly fell the sad strokes of fate that had changed all his views of life. His son, who had grown into a manly lad in whom all his father's hopes centered, sud- denly sickened and died of fever. His wife had not been strong since the birth of a daughter a few years before. Broken in spirit over the loss of her son, she soon died. When Satis Kumar stood by the burning ghat on the river bank and Baw the body of his son burnt to ashes, and the 6 FIRES OF DESIRE ashes swept into the stream and borne away, his soul was full of anguish. When, a little later, he followed to the same sad spot the body of the dead wife whom he had tenderly loved, his heart was well-nigh burst with grief. He went back to his desolate mansion in deep bitterness of spirit. There was no comfort for him in his once boasted agnosticism; religious indifference had become an impossibility. His heart cried out for comfort. A broken spirit longed for some balm of healing. Belonging to a race in which passive endurance had been de- veloped through long centuries, he could not exhaust his grief by wearing himself out in wildly rebellious thoughts. Contact with the new life that had invaded his land had over- thrown for him the forms of faith and the habits of thought in which he might otherwise have taken refuge. He was left sadly to struggle with the riddle of existence. Late one night in June, after a day of intense heat, Mr. Mukerji was sitting in an arbor in the midst of his beautiful garden. The south wind was beginning to blow refreshingly through the vines and trees. A great stillness had settled upon everything, broken only by the musical plash of fountains, and the rustle of leaves. In the deep blue vault of the sky the stars were flash- FIRES OF DESIRE 7 ing and twinkling as they can only in India. Six months had passed since the man's sore be- reavement had come upon him. Surcease from sorrow he had sought in vain. He was sadly questioning concerning the Power that rules this world, and wondering at the changes and chances of this mortal life. His thoughts dwelt upon those who had loved him and passed away into the great silence. They centered at length upon his mother, that gentle, patient woman whose whole life had been her home, her husband, and especially her boy. He felt that it would bring unspeakable comfort to his broken heart if he could lay his head upon that mother's breast and sob out his grief as he had in the days of childhood. Then, suddenly, there fell upon his troubled spirit a mystic calm. Somewhere from out the stillness of the night a voice seemed to speak to him. " Like unto your mother in gentleness and love, is God," said that voice. " Tell your griefs to Him, and he will comfort your heart." It was as though the hand of a master-player had been gently laid upon the harp of life to hush all its discordant vibrations. The calm that fell upon the troubled soul of the man was but the prelude of music which was to be awakened later by the same master-hand. Satis 8 FIRES OF DESIRE Kumar sat for hours meditating upon the Being who had the love and gentleness of a mother, with the wisdom and power of a God. From meditation he passed to adoration and commun- ion. Then, in the light of the new revelation which had come to him, he looked back over his past life, and out into the future. Many things seemed to be set right at once. Other things seemed not to matter. At last he aroused himself with the thought of a new necessity that was laid upon him by his comforting conception of God. It led to a reso- lution which expressed itself in a prayer. " O my God, I know not by what right I hold this comforting thought of Thee. My soul tells me that it is true. Of Thy great grace grant me power to verify it, and to find some sure ground upon which it may rest. Then will I proclaim it unto others, while rejoicing evermore in its light." He entered his house and went to his room. So hushed was his spirit as he lay down to rest, that he might have been the wayworn man seen by the immortal dreamer in the Palace Beauti- ful. As it had been with that tired wanderer, so now it was with this, for " The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sunrising: and the name of the chamber was Peace." FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER II FROM THE UNREAL TO THE REAL FROM that night Satis Kumar Mukerji began life anew. His little daughter, hitherto left to the care of a widowed cousin, was taken into his heart and watched over with personal devotion. The things that were of concern to his country, and especially the sad condition of the masses of the people, occupied a large place in his thoughts. So had the realization of God's love enlarged his heart and quickened his sensibilities. . But for years much of his energy was consumed ! in a search for the God in whom he had come to believe. Through the many ponderous volumes that make up the sacred books of his land, he sought for his God. He found Him not, albeit he read much that deepened his religious nature, and anchored him to the determination to live for the unseen things that are eternal. Learned Pundits he consulted; unto the words of holy. io FIRES OF DESIRE Yogis he listened. All was in vain. At last he was forced to realize that his scriptures and their accredited interpreters knew nought of his God whom he had found in the stillness of his garden. Nor did the new societies that were offshoots from the religion of the land satisfy him. The fantastic interpretation put upon the Vedas by the Arya Somaj, and their efforts to show that all the discoveries of modern science and in- ventive genius were antedated in those venerable writings, he regarded with contempt. Their methods of antagonizing and unfairly dealing with all who opposed them, he scorned. With the Brahmo Somaj he found himself in greater sympathy. From their devotional writings and religious meetings he received much help. But he was kept from casting his lot in with them, both because he saw that he could hold to what- ever he desired of their teaching without break- ing with his co-religionists, and because he real- ized better than many of their own number seemed to do, how dependent they were upon Christianity for all that is best in their teaching. The very thought of God that had brought him near to Christian truth had so kindled his love for his fellow-countrymen as to make him zealous for all that was Indian. He found himself in fellowship with that select company of cultured FIRES OF DESIRE u Indians who had begun to cherish sentiments of patriotism, and theories of social reform. With them, opposition to the Western religion was regarded as essential to a true love of India. Mukerji was like his associates in honestly opposing the faith whose spirit and methods he was unconsciously adopting. They had all grown up under the influence of European civilization. Much of their thinking and talking of reform had to be done in English. The various vernaculars were rather barren of words to express the new ideas, since the ideas were not indigenous. No vernacular, but the foreign tongue taught them by their conquerors, was the medium of universal communication among the widely-scattered ad- vocates of the new thought. A hundred years of missionary activity had united with the forces of modern culture to Christianize the thought of educated Bengalis. The younger men had ways of thinking of all religious and social ques- tions that would have been strange to former generations. But they had breathed them in un- consciously. They were not aware that their ideas were not the natural product of their own land. Hence Mukerji little appreciated how purely Christian was his new conception of God and duty. All the bitter prejudices of generations of 12 FIRES OF DESIRE haughty Brahmins were naturally in his head and heart. To them was added the new hostility begotten by patriotic love for India and all things Indian. So, while he read the Bible along with other scriptures, and drew much inspiration from its pages, he was too blind to discover that therein was revealed what his soul sought. Nor did he dream that his quest would ever lead him to embrace the faith of the conquerors of his country. None the less the man was an honest and earnest seeker after truth. Every morning he uttered the prayer from the Rig Veda that all pious Brahmins offer " Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the Divine Vivifier : May He illumine our understanding." Daily did he make the confession always made by the best of Brahmins " I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sin- ful, I am conceived in sin." Nor did he fail constantly to add that beauti- ful petition from the Upanishads " From the unreal, lead me to the real ; From darkness, lead me to light; From death, lead me to immortality." Being an intelligent and honest man, the peti- FIRES OF DESIRE 13 tioner did much to answer his prayers by faith- fully seeking the light. His devotion to God and men brought Mukerji into prominence among all his people. No voice was more eloquent nor more eagerly heard in the National Congress. No man was more beloved by all the distressed poor than he. None other had greater influence in educational and govern- mental circles. Yet the passing of the years left him unsatisfied. He had not found any- where among the scriptures and sects and socie- ties of his people an apprehension of the intui- tion or revelation which had come to his soul that night in his summer house. Though he continued to cling to it, and found it a solace and inspiration, he felt at times that it would slip away from him. It was so subjective; he had failed so signally to find for it an objective foundation; all his friends seemed to know or care so little about it. Without the aid that comes from an accredited revelation, or the fel- lowship of those of a like precious faith, the man sometimes feared that he was deceiving himself with an empty dream of his own troubled brain. It was while such thoughts were strong upon him that Satis Kumar went one afternoon to the University Senate House to see the registrar on a matter of business. Upon leaving the build- 14 FIRES OF DESIRE ing he met an old friend, and they strolled up and down the broad colonnade talking together. His friend was a Vedantist, with belief in an im- personal deity, the transmigration and final absorbtion of the soul, and all the rest of the old- time comfortless philosophy of the land. Mukerji loved the man, but shrank from his philosophy. His vague intuition, however, was no match for the relentless arguments of his friend, supported as they were by the most venerated scriptures of Hinduism, and woven into the very warp and woof of India's age-old thought and life. On that day above all others, he felt ill-prepared to con- tend for his faith in a personal Father-God who tenderly cares for all His children. He was not sorry when the attention of both of them was arrested by an unusual throng of people in the public square just across the street. Near the entrance to the square a man was standing upon a small platform and addressing a constantly increasing crowd of men. Meetings were frequently held in College Square by Brah- mos, Hindus, and Christians. The only thing remarkable about the meeting the men noticed that day was its size. The speaker was white, and, therefore, presumably a Christian. That made the exceptionally large attendance the more noteworthy. FIRES OF DESIRE. 15 " Who is the speaker? " asked Mukerji of his friend. " How should I know," he replied. " Some new advocate of that raw, young creed of the Europeans." The Vendantist prided himself upon the hoary antiquity of his ancestral faith. " He must be a recent arrival in the city," said Mukerji. " I have never before seen him, and I know most of the missioners." For a few minutes they watched the speaker in silence. They could catch but few of his words above the noise of the street. But his earnest- ness and the eager attention of his auditors seemed to proclaim him a man of some oratorical power. Partly to escape further argument, and partly to satisfy his curiosity, Mukerji proposed that they go over and listen to the man for a few moments. " I shall not go," replied his companion. " I care nought for such rantings. But if you are going in for a personal God, you better turn Christian. Such things as you say you believe can find support nowhere else." The man spoke half in banter, and half in seriousness, but wholly in gentleness and quiet- ness of spirit. After a few words of farewell, Mukerji left 16 FIRES OF DESIRE him. Crossing the street he entered the square and stood upon the outskirts of the crowd. The speaker, now seen at close range, was a tall, well- built man, with a strong, kindly face. He spoke clearly and eloquently, and with graceful, ex- pressive gestures. He had caught something of the style so natural and pleasing to an Oriental, and used a wealth of imagery and illustration in his fluent speech. At first, Mukerji listened rather carelessly. Then he began to feel the charm of the preacher's manner. After a little, he forgot all else in his interest in what was being said. Perhaps it was not very different from what he had heard before. But he was in a new mood, and the stranger before him had a way of his own in handling old truths. There were sentences in the long address that took hold of Satis Kumar Mukerji with power, and he never forgot them. It seemed as though the preacher was reading his life, and fitting his message to the secret long- ings and aspirations of his soul. Although it was the ornate exuberance of the missionary's style that first charmed him, what fastened it- self most powerfully upon him was rather tersely and plainly spoken. " My brothers," said the man, " whatever the philosophy of your sages may say, I know that FIRES OF DESIRE 17 you are men with loving and wounded hearts which cry out for a loving God. However many and noble may be the truths enshrined in your sacred literature, or embodied in your religion, you find not there the God for whom your heart hungers, the only God to whom you can commit your dear ones at death in the hope of seeing them again. It remained for the Man of Galilee to reveal God as a loving Father, and for the Christian scriptures to declare, t God is love.' When you consider how distinctively Christian that revelation is, and yet how universally men long for such comforting assurance, and how naturally they respond to it, need you wonder that an early Christian teacher, the good Tertul- lian, said to the followers of other religions, ' The soul of man is by nature Christian '? " " Ah," thought Satis Kumar, " is it not true that only the conception of such a God has brought peace to my heart? And did not my friend but just now tell me that if I wanted to believe in such things I could find support for them only in Christianity? " Carried away by his own reflections, he did not follow the speaker's words for some minutes. When his attention was again arrested, the preacher was setting forth what would be some i8 FIRES OF DESIRE. of the practical effects of a general acceptance of Christianity in India. 11 There must be men before me who realize the sad condition of India after long centuries of adherence to Hinduism. Those of you who have drunk in the new spirit of social and politi- cal reform must see how impotent both philo- sophical and popular Hinduism are for the reno- vation of India. If you are finding that your religion cannot do what is least, why will you trust it with the greater task of spiritual regen- eration? And as for the accomplishment of the lesser work let me ask you what you think would be the result of a widespread adoption of the Christian religion in this land? It is not easy for you to answer that question impartially. Your pride, your prejudices, and many nobler qualities make it difficult for you candidly to estimate the value of this religion. It has come to you in a strange Western garb. Its adherents are your conquerors, and many of them have been sorry exponents of the meek and lowly ; Jesus. Yet did it take its rise in an Eastern land. Nor has it lacked among you representa- tives whose lives have adorned the doctrine of their Saviour. Something of its revivifying power has been felt throughout this empire. Much of its holy precepts, and of the spotless FIRES OF DESIRE. 19 life of its Founder are known to all you educated men. I ask you now to leave aside all questions of philosophy and theology. Forget, for a time, the lives of all professed Christians. Remember only that to be a Christian is to be like Christ. Then seriously face this question, and do not leave it until you have intelligently answered it : 'If with the rising of to-morrow's sun every man and woman in Calcutta and in all India were to be- gin earnestly to try to be like Jesus Christ, what would it mean for this city and for this country? ' And when you have answered that question, then tell yourself, < That is what it would ultimately mean for India to accept Christianity.' ' With an impassioned peroration, the man closed his address. Darkness had fallen while he was speaking. Flocks of crows had come noisily to the tree branches above the heads of the crowd, and had taken shelter for the night. A man had lighted the two big gas lamps be- fore the entrance of the square. Cab lanterns were flashing to and fro. The loud calls of drivers of bullock carts, and of footmen perched behind carriages were heard above the rumble of wheels through the crowded street. The throng of students and older men had stood and listened patiently to the long address. Bengalis are listeners rather than readers; they 20 FIRES OF DESIRE love the open air rather than an assembly hall; they have a keen appreciation of oratory ; withal, they are patient creatures. When the lecture ended, a spontaneous nmrmur_of approval ran through the crowd, and there was some clapping of hands. Not a few men went to the speaker and thanked him for what he had said. Then they went their ways, most of them to worship the divinities whose shrines they passed, and to think no more of what they had heard with so much attention and approval. Mr. Mukerji stayed until the missionary was ready to leave the square. Then he stepped up to him and spoke. " Sir, I have heard your eloquent lecture. Per- mit me to thank you for it. I would speak with you further upon the subjects you so ably dis- cussed. My carriage is here; if you will do me the honor to let me drive you to your home, we can talk by the way." The preacher gladly assented. Mukerji sig- naled to his coachman. The heavy carriage, drawn by two magnificent black horses, and at- tended by four richly liveried servants, came to the curb. The two men stepped in and were whirled rapidly away. Of that night's conversation, and all that grew out of it, there is no need now to speak particu- FIRES OF DESIRE 21 larly. Richard Clifford was a rare man. Be- fore the drive ended, the Bengali had come to respect and admire him. Although he had been in India but a short time, and had come to the capital only very recently, he was not unfamiliar with the conditions existing there. By long years of diligent study, he had prepared himself for work among educated Indians. Added to that, he possessed uncommon tact in dealing with men. There was also in his nature a deep vein of mysticism which fitted him for his chosen work. It all helped him to do that night what any veteran missionary in the empire would have given anything he possessed for the joy of ac- complishing. When Satis Kumar drove away to his home, the seed had already been sown that bore its fruit a few months later in the public baptism of the noble Brahmin. Unconsciously, Mukerji had been approaching such a step for years. His daily prayer to be led from darkness to light, and from unreality to reality had been sincere and earnest. His deep love for the God who had somehow revealed Himself to him as the God of love, had become the inspiration of his life. His desire to help his fellow-countrymen to the highest and best was no empty sentiment. For years he had sought in vain within the pale of Hinduism for new 22 FIRES OF DESIRE religious light, and effective social reformation. When he was finally convinced that in Chris- tianity alone could he find his God fully revealed, and that from it alone could be derived the power for India's renovation, there was but one thing for him to do. It was not easy for the proud Brahmin to come to his decision. But after the battle with his pride and prejudices was won, it was com- paratively easy for him to carry his resolution into effect. There was no irate father to dis- inherit him ; no frantic wife or mother to threaten to commit suicide; no angry employer to cut off his income. True, the influential men of his community came clamoring about him when they heard what he proposed to do. Every argument and other means at their command, whether fair or foul, they freely used to prevent his disgrac- ing himself and them. To the Hindus it mattered nothing that Mukerji had practised but few of the rites of their religion for years past. Nor was it any cause of annoyance to them that it was publicly known how little respect he had long entertained for theiri doctrines and ceremonies. That in thought and purpose he had shown himself practi- cally Christian, and had even disregarded many of the regulations of caste, distressed nobody. FIRES OF DESIRE 23 Such things were common enough in the metropo- lis. So long as a man observed the more im- portant rules of caste, and was not actually baptized, he might believe and say and do what he liked. But for a leading member of the com- munity, and a man known throughout the land, to be baptized that was another matter. Mukerji, however, put all objections and object- ors gently but firmly aside, and went his own way. So the ceremony had taken place. It was a glad day for the Christians, both native and European. A throng witnessed the simple and impressive ceremony. Mukerji's child, then a pretty, gentle girl of fifteen, was received into the Church along with her father. Kichard Clifford seemed transfigured as he administered the sacred rite. There was a look of joyous ex- altation on the noble face of Satis Kumar as he thus passed from Hinduism into the Church of Christ. After that, many things had happened. The storm raised by Mukerji's act raged fiercely for a short time, but it soon passed. The conversion of even the highest caste men to Christianity was not so uncommon as it had once been; the less there was said about it the better. The man went on with his daily life much as he had be- 24 FIRES OF DESIRE fore, only cut off from a certain amount of social intercourse with his old co-religionists. It soon became apparent, though, that he in- tended to make every atom of his influence and wealth aid the new cause he had espoused. He became an active propagandist among his friends. In his own grounds, he built a church upon Corn- wallis Street. He had Clifford and his wife move into a part of his mansion. Then the two men began in the city a work that told mightily for the cause they loved. At Christmas-tide the Indian National Con- gress, that remarkable deliberative assembly which calls together so many of the ablest sons of India, held its annual meeting in Calcutta. Al- though he said nothing about religion upon its platform, Mukerji's address when introducing a resolution on the Betterment of the Agricultural and Laboring Classes, was so filled with passion- ate earnestness and enthusiasm, that those who had often listened to his eloquent orations before, realized that a new man was speaking to them. That same night, after the Congress adjourned, there was a meeting in the Cornwallis Street chapel, and Mukerji addressed a great audience of his fellow-countrymen. Before the meeting closed, five well-known men and several students publicly announced their determination to follow FIRES OF DESIRE 25 their gifted brother into the new life. Calcutta was beginning to be shaken to the very center. It seemed that at last India's Paul or Luther had arisen. Men began to dare hope that soon all India would be moving the Hindus towards Christianity, and the Christians towards a united, national Church. Then it all suddenly came to an end. Satis Kumar had been away from home addressing a meeting of educated Hindus at Burdwan. It was the cool season, and he had been drenched by an unexpected rain, after being overheated by long speaking. A severe chill followed, and next day he was quite ill. As soon as possible he was taken to his home. There he grew rapidly worse. He was not an old man, but, like most Bengalis, he had begun to age rather early, and was no longer robust. In spite of the best medical attendance that the city could afford, it was soon evident that he could not recover. Thus it was that when the nine-thirty gun boomed out over the city that night, Satis Kumar Mukerji lay dying. And many high hopes were perishing with him. Mr. and Mrs. Clifford, and the dying man's daughter were near his bedside. The doctor and nurse were in attendance upon him. He seemed to be peacefully sleeping. The minutes 26 FIRES OF DESIRE glided away. They heard the clock upon the Presidency College strike eleven. " I think," said the doctor, " he will probably come out of this stupor before he goes, and be able to speak with you." The distant, deep-toned bell on St. John's Church had taken up the refrain, and was slowly sounding out the hour. The sick man sighed deeply, and opened his eyes. In a moment he seemed to understand where he was. He smiled up at the watchers about the bed. Then he held out his hand to his daughter, and she went and sat upon the bed by his pillow. For a moment his eyes closed, and he seemed to be slipping off again into unconsciousness. But he soon rallied, and after one or two efforts, began to speak. Halting was his utterance, but quite distinct. " I shall be going soon, friends," he said in his feeble voice. " Mrs. Clifford, I leave my dear child to you. Be very tender to my orphan girl. My will disposes of my property. It is all for my daughter and my Saviour. You will see that I want our work here to go on. The time that is passed suffices for this beautiful place to have sheltered what deeds of dark super- stition I know not, and to have served only the selfish ends of its owners. You must stay here, my friends. Do not disregard my wishes." FIRES OF DESIRE 27 The dying man was exhausted by the effort of speaking. The doctor administered a cordial to rally his waning powers. He was soon able to resume his parting words. " It was a sad disappointment to me when I found I must die. There is so much to do; our work was opening so grandly before us. How I longed to stay and work for my Lord, and my unhappy country. The regret is past now and I am happy. To-night my Lord stood by my bed, where you are now, Mr. Clifford. His face was full of love, and he took my hand in his, so ten- derly. Then he began to speak to me. " l Dear one/ said my Saviour, ' do you sorrow to leave your work? Do you fancy that your ser- vice for me is to close? Let not your heart be troubled thus, for I will show you what things are soon to be.' " With that He softly came to my pillow, where you now are, Daughter," the man went on in his labored way. " So did He lift me up until my head rested upon His breast. I felt as if I were a little child again, with my dear mother. " ' Look,' said my Lord, and He pointed far away. " As I looked I beheld a beautiful country, like unto the celestial land we read of in God's Book. Many shining ones were there who hymned the 28 FIRES OF DESIRE praises of the Most High; many, too, who sped forth as ministering spirits to do His bidding. But the scene changed while I gazed. I beheld a great multitude of my fellow-countrymen, amid the green pastures and by the water-brooks of that fair country. But they seemed not to shine as did the hosts about the throne. Nor seemed they able to respond to the call for messengers to speed away over sea and land to do the Great King's behests. " At that sight I was sad, and I cried, ' Ah, my Saviour, are my people less favored than others, even in this heavenly country? ' " ' Nay,' said the Blessed One. ' For many are standing with the shining ones about the throne. Even these enjoy all the bliss of which their souls are capable. These are thy people who have passed the portals of death, knowing not Me nor My Father, yet true to all the light they had. Or others are thy brethren, who as babes in the faith, have come hither with little knowledge and small attainments.' " With that, methought this room did rock and shake. Then a Voice, mighty as crash of many thunders, sounded in mine ears. " ' Whom shall I send, and who will go to lead these My little ones up to the heights of holy knowledge and adoring love? Who will fit them FIRES OF DESIRE 29 to stand with joy before My throne, and to fly, or near or far, to do My will? ' " Then cried I, ' Oh, my Lord, send me, for they are mine own people whom I love! ' " ' So shall it be,' the Voice replied. " All was quiet once more. The vision faded quite away. But the Lord remained, with my head upon His breast. " i How now, My child? ' He softly asked. " I gladly cried, ' It is well. Now let Thy ser- vant depart in peace.' " So, my dear ones, I have awakened to tell you good-bye. You will stay to continue the work here. My Master has called me to higher service, and gladly do I go." The clocks of the city were tolling the hour of midnight, when Satis Kumar Mukerji passed to be with his God in the land of the higher serv- ice. None looked upon that dead face ere he was laid to rest next day, who did not see plainly stamped upon it the peace which passeth under- standing. And the daughter and her friends went back to their home with spirits chastened by a sorrow that was full of holy joy. 30 FIRES OF DESIRE DAYS OF DECISION MRS. STANTON was a widow, and Frank was her only child. The income from her husband's estate was sufficient to keep her and her boy above want and care. They lived quietly in their com- fortable home on Broadway, in Lexington, Ken- tucky, attended by two negro servants, who had grown up in the family. Like most of the dwell- ers in that good city and commonwealth, the widow and her boy were free from the feverish hurry and worry which spoil the lives of men and women in more northern and less favored lati- tudes. To enjoy what they had, to show kindness to others, to live together in mutual respect and love such seemed to be the good rule of these two, and of many of their fellow-citizens. Frank was devoted to his mother. Never through the long years of the widowhood that had left her his sole guardian, had he caused her serious anxiety. True, his boyhood days had FIRES OF DESIRE. 31 not been free from a full share of arboreal and aquatic proclivities, terrifying to maternal in- stincts. More than once the good lady had been filled with fear when her son came home soaked from a tumble into some pond, or bruised by a too precipitate descent from a tree. Even the painful contortions caused by surreptitious feasts upon stolen sweets in the shape of sour apples and green water-melons, were not without their element of apprehension to the mother of an only child. But such things add a dash of spice to life, and let a woman know that she is the mother of a real boy. The lad passed a happy boyhood. From the public schools he had gone into college. Mrs. Stanton was thankful that her native city pos- sessed such colleges as to make it unnecessary for her boy to go away from home. At the age of twenty, Frank graduated with honors. It was the mother's ambition that her son should be a minister. To that end she had wisely and un- obtrusively labored all his life. At the proper time she had let him know of her wish, without pressing him for an answer. Not until after his graduation did the question come up for serious discussion. Then it was not long until he came to a decision. " Mother," said the young man suddenly one 32 FIRES OF DESIRE evening as they sat together in the veranda, " if I am to be a parson I must go to some semi- nary for theological training. Where shall I go?" " Have you decided to enter the ministry, Frank? " asked the mother. " Yes, Mother, if I can fit myself for it." Mrs. Stanton went to her boy, and sat on the broad arm of his chair. Brushing the hair back from his forehead, she kissed him. " My boy," she said softly, " how happy you make me. And the best of it is that you have a higher motive in this than pleasing your mother." Long and earnestly they talked together of the best way to carry the resolution into effect. The young man had already consulted his pastor and several of his old professors. His course had been decided upon, subject to the veto or approval of his mother. He wanted to go north, and finish his training in a wholly new environment. " You see, Mother," he argued, " a minister needs to know all sorts of people, and all schools of thought. Here I've lived in this dear, sleepy, old place all my life. So I know the south very well." Assenting to the wisdom of this, the widow asked what part of the north he thought best suited to his needs. FIRES OF DESIRE 33 " Well," he replied, " next to the South, we know the East best, as we have spent so many of our vacations there. I believe I better try a semi- nary in the West. I suppose the Middle West is the most representative and vigorous part of this country, anyway, in spite of all the easterners and southerners may say against it." "What particular spot of that favored region have you decided on? " asked the lady. " Chicago." Then, seeing the look on his mother's face "Don't be shocked, Mother; I really believe it's the best place for me." " I had never thought of the Windy City as a center of culture, and especially of religious cul- ture," she answered with a quiet smile. " No doubt it is a big noisy place, full of materialism and wickedness," the young man ad- mitted. " Perhaps it has grown so fast, and feels so strong, and is made up of such a mixed multitude, that it is like an overgrown boy, full of awkwardness, and badly governed passions, and self-importance. But I am told that it has more theological seminaries than any other city in the world. They are up to date and thorough too. Besides, the very things that make it so different from our world are what will make it valuable for me." Confessing that she knew little about the city 34 FIRES OF DESIRE and its advantages, Mrs. Stanton resumed her seat, and expressed her willingness to be con- vinced. Young Stanton had his facts and authorities ready. It was no difficult task to persuade his mother that Chicago was the best place for him. When he clinched all his arguments by telling that their pastor had been the first to recommend and urge his going there, Mrs. Stanton said she was perfectly satisfied to have it so. It was therefore settled that he should go to Chicago and enter the seminary that fall. Two weeks later, the mother and son were sit- ting together at breakfast one morning, address- ing themselves to the piping hot biscuits and strong coffee wherein the hearts of Kentuckians rejoice. Mrs. Stanton slipped a lump of golden yellow butter between the two halves of a biscuit, and waited for it to melt properly. " Son, do you know what I have decided to do?" she asked. " I give it up, Mother," he promptly rejoined. " Well, you don't try very hard to guess my riddles," she said. " I am going to rent apart- ments in Chicago, and keep house for you while you study theology and human nature." FIRES OF DESIRE 35 Frank's cup was set down suddenly, and rather hard. " Mother, you don't mean it? " he cried. " Oh, but I do, and our flat is already engaged," she assured him. " What a dear little Mother you are, to be sure. I've been wondering how I'd ever get along up there without you." And he had to get up and go kiss his mother before he could resume his breakfast. It was as the lady had said. She had decided that her boy would need her. Most certain she was that she needed him. A little inquiry re- vealed that she could get a furnished flat near the seminary, easily within her means. The Lexington house could be left in the care of one trusty servant ; the other could accompany them. So she had quietly arranged to go with her son. For the joy of being with him, all the inconven- ience and expense involved were counted as noth- ing. The Stantons set out for Chicago early in September. When the seminary began its year's work, they were comfortably settled, and Frank was ready and eager for his new duties. The young Kentuckian was a noble specimen of manhood tall, broad-shouldered, with finely- shaped head, dark hair, clear gray eyes, and in- 36 FIRES OF DESIRE tellectual forehead, and a mouth and chin indica- tive of strength of character. To such physicial qualities were added a genial disposition, and an air of good breeding that made the young man a general favorite everywhere. His ability and industry soon enabled him to take high rank in the seminary. There w r ere few southerners among the men, and no others from the far-famed. Blue Grass Region of Kentucky. Frank's southern accent and manners charmed by their novelty. If the men about him could teach him something of the rough and ready ways of the West, they could also learn with profit much from him of the easy grace of a man ac- customed to move in social circles where rough corners and sharp angularities had long since been banished by a quiet life in a genial climate. So Stanton fitted easily into his new life. He liked his fellow-students, and they warmly re- turned his regard. On the whole, Mrs. Stanton also enjoyed her- self. She missed the old home and friends. But their quarters were comfortable; pleasant ac- quaintances were formed at the church where she worshiped, and, above all, she was with her boy, and interested in his work. Almost every after- noon they walked by the lake side through the beautiful park that lay along the shore. Whether 'Walked leisurely together, the gray-haired little woman, by the side of the tall, stalwart young man " FIRES OF DESIRE 37 the noble Michigan was sleeping placidly under the rosy light of a fair sunset, or lashed into foaming fury by the keen northwestern wind, they loved it. As they walked leisurely together, or sat looking out over the water the gray- haired little woman, by the side of the tall, stal- wart young man they made a pretty picture. The lady cared little for the noisy city, though it was not within the power of her feminine heart to resist the attractions of the wonderful shops. But its mad rush after money, its crude gayeties, its heterogeneous mixture of raw foreign ele- ments, its open and unblushing wickedness, all confused her, and made her instinctively shrink from them. Her own little city had its bad qualities, no doubt, but they were less obtrusive, and preserved what semblance of gentility they could. If her son thought it would the better fit him for his calling to come into contact with all this, and make a study of it, she did not object. For her part, she would avoid it as much as pos- sible. However, both she and her son found that even amid such surroundings, the kindly light of a genuine culture, and the genial warmth of a sterling righteousness were kept aglow in many hearts and homes. When they met such, they ap- preciated it all the more because they realized how strongly the currents set in other directions. 38 FIRES OF DESIRE Time flies rapidly for the student with his daily and hourly duties. It seemed to Frank Stanton impossible that he had been in Chicago three years, when the day came for him to receive his degree and leave the seminary. He was not sorry that the hour for the real business of life to begin had arrived. Practically all his life had been passed in school and college and university. He had now reached his twenty-fourth year, and was anxious to get to work. Yet the years had been most pleasant and profitable. His comfortable home, his congenial studies and companions, his interest in the great city, his frequent opportuni- ties to preach during the last year of his course, and, withal, the delightful vacations spent with old friends in his native town, had all conspired to fill the three years with a healthy enjoyment. He stepped out into the world with a warm ap- preciation of the good things that had been his in the past, and with no fears for the future. Of several openings before him, Stanton had chosen an assistant pastorate in an " Open Church " in a needy down-town district of Chi- cago. He had become well acquainted with the pastor and the work during his seminary course. The difficulties and possibilities appealed to the generous and heroic impulses of youth. There was nothing morbid, perhaps nothing very pro- FIRES OF DESIRE 39 found, in his religious life. Never had he known any serious sorrow or care. Little in the way of strong temptation had ever assailed him. His had been a sheltered life. As far as they went, his faith and piety were genuine. That they went no further than they did was little fault of his, for that which is natural is first, and afterwards that which is spiritual. His time of testing was yet to come ; not until then could his religion be- come intensely personal and vital. It is the storm that makes the oak strike its roots deep, and grip hard upon the mountain side. Adam was probably more of a man -after his fall and banishment from Eden than before. Prior to his temptation he had the innocence of a babe; afterwards, whatever virtue he retained or regained, was the virile power of a man. At least, humanity's fall has been, in part, an up- ward fall. What would overtake Stanton in later days would do its work, and leave its im- . press. Meanwhile, he had an honest desire to do good service under his Captain, and a healthy young man's ambition to make the world better by helping up those w T ho were down. So the call to the " Open Church " attracted him, and he ac- cepted it. Mrs. Stanton decided to return to Lexington. There were many reasons for her doing so. Her 40 FIRES OF DESIRE property there needed her attention. Life could not be very comfortable for her in the midst of the city where her son would have to live, for it was best for his work that he make his home with the pastor who lived next door to the church. Above all, the mother knew that her son was now a man, and did not need her as he had in the more formative period of his life. Had there been no more serious obstacle in the way than her own physical discomfort, she would undoubtedly have remained; but it seemed best for him and his work for her to go. It would not be like having him in a place she had never seen. She could shut her eyes and see his rooms, his church, his as- sociates. She could know just what he was doing at most hours of the day or night. Such things are no small comfort to a mother. She was lonely, but not unhappy after her return home. She well knew that for more reasons than one, Frank would spend all the time he could in Lex- ington. The church soon felt the influence of the new life and enthusiasm that the young man brought to it. The pastor was an able and devoted man, of superb executive skill, and wide experience. He knew and loved the people of the community. His workers were well-organized and efficient The church had long been a veritable hive of FIRES OF DESIRE 41 industry, with its numerous social and religious meetings, its reading room and night classes, its gymnasium and out-door sports, and its preven- tive and reformatory enterprises, prosecuted throughout the district. But its pastor was not a fresh and inspiring preacher. Stanton supplied that lack. It soon came about that he conducted nearly all the evangelistic services. He possessed the southerner's natural gift of oratory, which had been developed by much experience in public speaking. His ser- mons were strong and tender. They took hold of people, and drew crowded houses. The one thing the church had most sadly lacked was supplied. The pastor and workers were delighted. Stanton soon felt thoroughly at home, and very happy in his work. Why is there not a special Providence ever at hand in this world whose duty it is to see that a man is let alone when he is happy, and safe and useful? Well, why does not the mother bird leave her fledglings in the nest where they are com- fortable and out of danger? Perhaps the birds know why when they feel the buoyant air about them and soar to the sky on joyful wing. Stanton was not long to continue his Chicago work. There was an urgent and persistent call for foreign missionaries. For several years the 42 FIRES OF DESIRE Foreign Board had found it extremely difficult to get a sufficient number of able young men to enter its service. The society had, therefore, re- solved upon a determined effort to recruit its ranks for China, and India, and Africa. To create enthusiasm, and to influence others to volunteer, strong pressure was brought to bear upon several young men of unusual ability and prominence. Stanton was one of them. It was not easy for him to decide how to answer that call. But the same qualities in him that had prompted his acceptance of the invitation to the " Open Church " inclined him to respond to the new appeal for hard service elsewhere. He was wanted as a yoke-fellow for Richard Clifford in Calcutta, where the tasks were far beyond one man's strength. He had known Clifford in col- lege, and liked him. What with Clifford's let- ters, and the appeals from the secretaries, and the promptings of his own dauntless spirit, Frank could not long hold out. The church would re- lease him, though reluctantly. If all could be arranged happily in Lexington, he could give a final and satisfactory answer to the Foreign Board. After they had talked matters over together the evening of his arrival home, the little mother had a battle royal with her own heart. She had FIRES OF DESIRE 43 heard all his statement of the case, had read the letters from Clifford and the secretaries, and had listened to the arguments with which Frank had convinced himself, and sought now to per- suade her. Promising to give her answer in the morning, she kissed him good-night, and went to her room. Then for long hours the widow sat before her fire. There was little sleep for her that night, but much prayer and many tears. " He is all that I have," she told herself. " And I am getting old. This pain in my side, too, that the doctor says is from my heart how do I know what may happen at any moment? " As she looked up through the tears of her self- pity, she saw hanging over her mantel, the picture of Christ in Gethsemane. It made her think about words that He had said concerning self- denial, and loss of life for His sake. " Is this my Gethsemane, Lord? " she said aloud. " If it is, Thou wilt forgive my shrink- ing, I know, for Thou didst draw back in the face of Thy great trial." " When I dedicated my boy to God," she went on to herself, " and did all that I could to interest him in the work of the Church, I did not know it would cost me this. I was ready for anything but this, anything but this." Mrs. Stanton was a woman of an unusually 44 FIRES OF DESIRE strong religious nature. As she thought and prayed her way along she became calmer. When the first gray glimmer of dawn entered her east window, she had the light of victory in her eyes. Before she lay down to snatch a few hours' sleep, she made her great renunciation. " O, heavenly Father, he who was counted worthy to be called the friend of God, withheld not his son, his only son whom he loved, when Thou didst command that he be offered up to Thee. And when Thou didst hearken unto the woman of a sorrowful spirit, and grant her a man-child, she did not draw back from her vow, though it meant that she must be parted from her boy when he was but a little child. Thou, Lord, didst also give Thine only begotten Son to die for us all. Who, then, am I that I should stretch forth my hand to withdraw that which I have laid upon Thine altar? Do as seemeth best in Thy sight. Only let the hand of Thy blessing be upon the head of my boy, day and night." At their late breakfast, Mrs. Stanton appeared much as usual. When the meal was over, she and Frank sat down by the library fire for their final talk on the subject upon their hearts. She told him little of the battle, but spoke at length of the victory of the night before. There was no sufficient reason for her to hinder him in his FIRES OF DESIRE 45 purpose, she told her son. She did not need his support, and had always managed her affairs with her lawyer. He would get home to see her on occasional furloughs, such as other mission- aries had. He would probably be safe in India ; if anything happened to either of them, heaven was as near to India as to America. She was proud of him for wanting to go; she was glad she could let him. Thus it was agreed between them that, if he felt called to the work, he ought to go, regardless of any cost to their personal interests. That same afternoon, Frank Stanton stood up- on the veranda of his house, drawing on his gloves preparatory to making a call. It was a call that would decide whether another possible obstacle in the way of his proposed trip to India could be removed. A few minutes' rapid walk up Broad- way brought him to his destination. The Everest home was larger and more elegant than that of the Stantons', but, for all that, it was just as much for comfort and daily use. It stood separated from the street, and from neigh- boring houses by a broad lawn. There was a neat iron fence around the lawn, and a high board fence around the garden at the back of the house. The southerners are slow to sacrifice their privacy to the general appearance of a street. That pretty fiction, adopted so universally in the 46 FIRES OF DESIRE North, of removing boundary lines, and giving the impression that all the lots are held in com- mon, makes slow progress among the conserva- tive Kentuckians. The house itself was a solid brick structure, painted grey. Its wide entrance opened from a broad veranda into a spacious hall. Within, everything betokened good taste and refinement. About every rug, and ornament, and picture, and piece of furniture, there was that indefinable something which betokens good breeding. A man's home is like his face an index to his character. Ever since there had been a Lexington, there had been Everests in it. They had always been prosperous and influential citizens. For several generations they had given themselves to the law. The present head of the house was a middle- aged man who had, some years before, succeeded to the practice and estate of his father. He and his wife and children, together with his only sis- ter, many years his junior, made up the house- hold. Mabel Everest was a beautiful girl, as perfect as some graceful Greek goddess. Her complex- ion was of creamy whiteness, touched with the most delicate bloom. Her eyes, with wonderful, lustrous, brown depths, and long, curling lashes, were the chief charm of a face whose every feature FIRES OF DESIRE 47 was charming. Her golden brown hair was a crown of glory to her shapely head. To her per- fection of face and form, and grace of carriage, were added a voice both soft and rich, and a spirit as sunny and serene as a fair southern June day. Frank and Mabel had been fast friends ever since a day in their childhood when he was a knight errant of eleven years, and she a fair but tearful damosel of six summers. The youth- ful knight had found her where she had wandered off some distance from home. She was being tor- mented by a big boy, who had snatched her sun- bonnet, and was pretending to run away with it. " Here, you po ' white trash, drop that bonnet, and let that little girl be," had been Frank's prompt command and challenge. The boy immediately tossed the bonnet away and fell upon the little girl's champion. It was a sharp encounter, and our knight received " many dolorous strokes," among which were a bite on the ear and a blow on the nose, that set both a bleeding. But Frank was of good stock and was fighting in a righteous cause. Finally tie got his antagonist down and pummelled him so soundly, that he was glad to " speak the loath word " and take himself off when released. Frank made himself look as presentable as pos- sible, by the aid of his handkerchief. Then he 48 FIRES OF DESIRE comforted the small maiden, who was more terri- fied by the fight than she had been by her tor- mentor. Learning who she was, the boy escorted her home. After that, Frank seemed to feel a proprietary interest in his little neighbor. On her part, she paid him that reverence which a child often gives to an older one who condescends to notice it. Passing years seemed to lessen the difference between their ages. The girl, after the manner of those of her sex, and especially of those in the South, matured more rapidly than the lad. She was now in her twentieth year, and had known for several years of a love that had been uncon- sciously growing for Frank since the days of her childhood. The man had also known for some time that his feeling of comradeship and friendship had deepened into a holier sentiment for the beautiful girl. Yet their frequent letters, and their rela- tions to each other while Frank was in Chicago, or at home on vacation, had not outwardly changed. There had been no word of love be- tween them. Nothing, however, but that myster- ious fear which falls upon the hearts of lovers before they speak their vows, could have left any uncertainty in the heart of either of them. Stanton had made up his mind that it was time FIRES OF DESIRE 49 to banish all doubt. He pushed open the gate and let it swing shut behind him, as he went rapidly up the walk that bright afternoon. Mabel had been watching for him from her window upstairs, and ran down to open the door herself almost be- fore he could ring. They shook hands in a very matter-of-fact way, though the look in their eyes was far otherwise. They were to ride together, so the girl had on a closely-fitting dark blue rid- ing habit. No rich evening costume could have been more becoming. " You see I am all ready to go," she said brightly. " The horses will be around in a few minutes. Come in and sit down." Stanton had no saddle-horse in his stable since he had left Lexington. He was to ride one of Mr. Everest's. While waiting for the horses, they chatted gaily together about things old and new as they sat by the library fire. Nothing was said about India, though the girl knew of his proposed plans, and both their hearts were full of the sub- ject. Soon they were on their horses four Kentucky thoroughbreds, the horses and the riders together and cantering down the street. When they were clear of the city and out on the beautiful Paris 'pike, they gave their horses their heads, and sped along like the wind. What glorious 50 FIRES OF DESIRE roads Kentucky could boast ! Smooth and broad and hard, flanked on both sides by rich blue- grass farms it was worth while to ride on such roads, through such a country, even when the frequent tollgates made it almost as expensive as railroad travel. Some aspiring souls long for wings with which to beat the air and soar aloft. What could be better than a good road, and a noble horse, and a fair companion, and a mad ride on a clear wintry day. Birds and angels may know of some superior mode of locomotion; certainly men can- not. Sometimes with their horses quietly walk- ing, the two young people talked together; at other times they raced so wildly that conversa- tion was out of the question. It mattered not merely to be alive, and to be together was joy enough. The sun was setting when they returned to the house. Stanton was to dine with the Everests, and spend the evening with Mabel. He left her at the door, and hastened home to dress. George Everest and his wife were comfortable people to be with. They two, Mabel and Frank, made up the dinner party. The brother thoroughly approved of Frank, and was always glad to see him. A pleasant hour was passed at the table in conversation, and in doing justice to a real Kentucky repast. It was an old-fashioned FIRES OF DESIRE 51 dinner, even if the evening hour at which it was eaten was rather new-fashioned for that region. When dinner was over, they all withdrew to the parlor, across the broad hall. After a little, Mrs. Everest was called away to the nursery, and her husband went to the library to read his even- ing paper. Left to themselves, the young people drew up to the blazing fire and gradually drifted into conversation about the matter that was weighing upon both their hearts. Frank talked long and earnestly of the step he was contemplat- ing, and of all there was in it to appeal to him. " You know r , Mabel," he said, " you have often spoken of the way I pitched into the big chap who was teasing you that day. Of course, it was nothing ; any boy would have done it, regard- less of consequences. And that's how I feel about this work. Those poor people over in India are down, and life is hard for them. There seem to be so few able or willing to go help them. I don't see how I can keep my self-respect and stay at home." He found the girl in hearty sympathy with the plan, and full of admiration for his manly de- termination. It gave him courage for the task he had set himself for that night. Yet he played about the question for a long time without dar- ing to come to the point. They fell to talking 52 FIRES OF DESIRE about his mother, and how brave she was to let him go, in spite of what it was costing her. Frank arose and began to pace the room while talking. Suddenly he stopped and leaned on the back of the great easy chair in which the girl was sitting. Her head was against the cushion on the other side of the wide back. She glanced up at him and smiled. Something she saw in his eyes made her veil hers, while a soft flush stole over her face. Frank looked down at the shapely head with its wealth of golden-brown hair, and at the beautiful face with its downcast eyes, till the question in his heart came to his lips. He spoke quietly, though his heart was throbbing wildly. " Mabel, you talk about my being brave, but I am a coward. Some things I can give up ; there is one I cannot. Do you remember what Barak said to Deborah when he was called on to lead the army of Israel against the hosts of Sisera? " The girl shook her head without looking up. Whether her silence was due to lack of familiarity with the scriptures or to other causes who knows? " ' If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.' ' The flush deepened upon the downcast face, but Mabel did not stir and seemed hardly to breathe. FIRES OF DESIRE. 53 " My darling," said her wooer, " I cannot tell you how long I have loved you. I only know I love you with my whole heart. I feel ashamed to ask you to give up all you have here for a life of hardship in India. But I cannot go without the hope of having you with me. Do you love me, little sweetheart? Do you think you could go to India with me? He had reached down and taken her hand in his. It was trembling in his grasp. But she raised her beautiful eyes to his and answered him without a moment's hesitation. " Yes, anywhere." It was scarcely more than a whisper, and then there was silence. Their souls were awed; the stillness seemed sacred. After a while he stood before her, and drew her up to him by both her hands. For a moment he held her close to his heart. Their eyes were the windows of their souls, through which looked out their glowing love. " Sweetheart," he whispered, " I must go, for it is late." He laid his right hand gently upon her head, and it seemed to the girl like a benediction. He let his hand slip down and pat her blushing cheek, and press her head against his heart. He turned her face up to his and looked down into her love- 54 FIRES OF DESIRE lit eyes. He bent his head and softly kissed her lips. Then he was gone, and the queenly girl stood alone in the firelight, transfigured by the power of love. FIRES OF DESIRE 55 CHAPTER IV EASTWARD BOUND Six months later Stanton sailed from New York. It was his intention to spend a few weeks in England, and arrive in Calcutta at the begin- ning of the cool season. He had returned to Chicago a few days after Mabel Everest had become his affianced bride. It was part of the plan of the Foreign Society to send out only unmarried men at that time. Hence Stanton was to go alone. At as early a date as possible, Mabel was to join him in India. Until the beginning of summer he had con- tinued his work in Chicago. Then he had re- turned to Lexington to spend his summer with his mother and his betrothed. That vacation was one never to be forgotten, made up as it was of golden days, full of love and happiness. It ended all too soon, and the young man had felt the first keen sorrow of his life in leaving the two women whose love filled his heart. Now he was fairly 56 FIRES OF DESIRE off, for the good ship was steaming out of New York harbor. The voyage was uneventful and pleasant. Frank spent most of his time on deck, reading and dreaming. It was too late in the season for the steamer to be crowded. The people on board were pleasant enough, but Frank was too pre- occupied with his own thoughts and plans to care to form many acquaintances. Occasionally he joined other young people in strolling up and down the deck. Dreaming, however, filled up most of his time when he was not reading or sleeping. The weather was fine, and only the worst sailors experienced any considerable in- convenience at any time during the voyage. After ten days, for he was on a slow boat, Stanton saw the masts of Liverpool harbor, and the smoke of the city. He had a friend there whom he had known some years before at college, who was practising dentistry in the city. So he was spared the loneliness of landing at a strange port with no one to meet him. They soon got clear of the Custom House, a less formidable in- stitution in Johnny Bull's domains than in Uncle Sam's, and drove away to young Dr. Nevill's house. The doctor had a pretty little wife, and a comfortable home. Because of his own hopes for the future, Stanton was as much interested in. FIRES OF DESIRE 57 the home and happiness of his friend as the new mother is in the babies of all her acquaintances. There was little of interest to be seen in the city, but everything was new to the young man, who had never been abroad before. At the end of a pleasant week spent with his friend, Frank set out for London. Dr. Nevill accompanied him as far as Chester, which he desired to see on the way. The few days spent there proved fair, a rare thing in England at that season of the year, so they saw the quaint old city to good advantage. To walk about the city walls, to explore the noble old cathedral, to visit the various sleepy-looking shops and historic houses, and to ride through the narrow, crooked streets on the second story of the leisurely horse-cars, was an agreeable way for the young American to get his first real introduc- tion to old-world life. He was rather sorry when his friend had to return to Liverpool, and leave him to resume his journey alone. After seeing Chester, Frank's appetite was whetted for more of England's delightful towns. Especially was he anxious to see Cambridge and Oxford, the most noted cathedral towns, and the homes of some of his favorite authors. But his time was so short that he decided to pass them all by for the present and devote himself to the 58 FIRES OF DESIRE metropolis until his steamer sailed. About dark one rainy evening he arrived in London. He was driven at once to a quiet hotel in South- ampton Kow, where he had engaged a room upon the recommendation of his Liverpool friends. He found it a comfortable and well located place. The next two weeks were filled with sight-see- ing. Who does not recall with pleasure his first visit to the metropolis of the world? The British Museum, the art galleries, the Palace, St. Paul's, the Abbey, the haunts of great men who have passed away, the parks, the monuments, the streets all fraught with historic memories that are dear to every Anglo-Saxon heart! Frank Stanton enjoyed it all to the full. Being fresh from academic halls, he was drawn first to the Museum. There he spent the greater part of several days getting a glimpse of many things he had long known through his books. The Abbey and the Cathedral next claimed his attention and revived his knowledge of English history. The former carried his thoughts back to the past, made glorious by the great men whose memories are enshrined in the beautiful old minster. The latter, standing as it does with the busy life of the wonderful city surging about it, made the young man think of the present. Its quiet re- cesses, pervaded by their "dim religious light/' FIRES OF DESIRE 59 reminded him of all that Christianity stands for in a world of busy cares. In the world, but not of it, has it stood where life is intensest and most tried, affording a sanctuary for weary souls be- yond the noise and din of worldiness. St. Paul's seemed a type of all this, standing above the crowd of the street, unshaken by the ebb and flow of the tides of humanity all about it. Other objects did not fail to claim his eager at- tention, but it was the streets of the city that came to fascinate the young Kentuckian most. He took to riding about on the tops of omni- buses, whenever the weather permitted. It was not a very rapid mode of travel for a man ac- customed to the speed of the electric trolleys and elevated lines of America's cities, but Frank was willing to go slowly. There was much to be seen as the limbering vehicles toiled along, often brought to a dead stop by the blocking of the street, and seldom moving faster than a walk. But the streets themselves, crowded from curb to curb with all sorts of vehicles, and the side- walks thronged with people, were the crowning sight of the city. Of course, Frank had seen crowded streets before, but not such narrow, crooked and ancient streets as abound in the heart of London. His two weeks sped away, and Stanton found 60 FIRES OF DESIRE himself once more on the deck of a steamer, this time starting upon a long voyage. Instead of going by rail to Marseilles or Brindisi, and tak- ing ship there for Bombay, and proceeding thence by rail again to Calcutta, as most travelers do, he was making the trip from London to Calcutta by water. It was much slower, but it was cheaper and more comfortable for a good sailor. After a whole afternoon spent in getting clear of the river Thames, the good ship stood out to sea. The Channel and the Bay of Biscay were in their usual turbulent condition. It was too stormy to spend much time on deck. All ports had to be closed, so cabins and saloons were stuffy and dreary. Everywhere it was bleak and chill, for there was no provision made for heating the ship while in cold regions. On the whole, Frank rather repented the thirst for the sea that had prevented his escaping a week's rough and un- comfortable sailing. Better days followed, how- ever, and after having seen Gibralter, and got his sea-legs well on by the time they reached Mar- seilles, he was again contented to have come as he did. It was some pleasure to have been among the early settlers, and so treat those who joined at the French port as interlopers, and hold them at a distance for a few days. Soon they were out at sea again and crossing FIRES OF DESIRE 61 the Mediterranean. Fair skies and seas attended them all the way across that water-way of the great nations of classical days and fame. The passengers proved a congenial company. Most of them were young men going out to India for civil, or police, or railway service, or to take their places in offices or shops, or upon tea plantations. There were a few older men and their families re- turning to service after their furloughs, and also a few missionaries. The young ladies of the com- pany were not numerous. Two or three of them were going out to marry the lovers who had sent for them; others were going in search of lovers who were only remote possibilities as yet. All the passengers were soon on fairly intimate terms. In crossing the Atlantic nowadays, in a week or less, it is hardly worth while to try to get acquainted with fellow-passengers. But when a company of people find themselves thrown together for four or five weeks, they instinctively begin to try to make themselves as agreeable to one another as possible. For Frank, the first pangs of separation from his friends were over. Strange sights and experiences had broken in up- on his dreamy retrospect of what he had left. So he entered heartily and naturally into the life of the little world where he found himself. Quite a variety of amusements of a mild kind 62 FIRES OF DESIRE are devised during the long and rather slow voyage of an Oriental steamer. Of course, the usual ship-board mania for gambling breaks out and claims all whose conscientious scruples do not guard them. Whether it is cards, checkers, or only the daily mileage of the ship all must contribute their quota of excitement by afford- ing their chances of loss and gain. Smoking in excess, and drinking, usually in moderation, help out the men. Then there is shuffle-board, and quoits, and even cricket in a small way. Con- certs and dances upon the hurricane deck beguile the tedium of many nights. Always there is the chance of a promenade and chat with a pleasant companion, or a quiet time in a long deck chair with an interesting book. After all the catalogue of ordinary games has been laid under contribution, and a monotony has begun to creep into life, it is possible to get up wild contests between the first and second saloon passengers. Even games that have become stale and unprofitable are again brought forward in the tournament. To them may be added a tug of war, a contest in drinking bottled soda- water, a sack race, and an obstacle race. In the excitement of the last-named sport men wildly dash over and under benches and bars, struggle desperately through great nets suspended hori- FIRES OF DESIRE 63 zontally in mid-air, and wallow and squirm through long canvas tunnels, just large enough to admit them, and usually containing ambushes of flour and soot somewhere in their serpentine lengths. Such things afford diversion both for participants and onlookers. If a man has not become too blase, and too satiated by over-famil- iarity with highly spiced living, the simple en- joyments of a life on shipboard have a charm all their own. Frank was in a world of new ex- periences; he derived genuine pleasure from them all. The stop at Port Said afforded the first glimpse of a strange civilization. Europe is intensely interesting to every thoughtful traveler. But, after all, it is only an elder America. Not so the Orient. Old it certainly seems and is, in its customs and many of its towns, even when com- pared with the most ancient places of the West- ern continents. One realizes at once that one is in contact with a different world as soon as one gets the first glimpse of any place that has felt the influence of the East. Port Said is neither old nor new, neither Orient nor Occident. It is, however, a place where the contending influences meet. To the stranger to the East, the town with its narrow and dirty streets, its men in tur- bans and flowing robes of many colors, its noisy 64 FIRES OF DESIRE. traders, its importunate beggars, is a fitting pre- lude to what awaits him farther on. Before the steamer made fast, it was invaded by a motley horde of traffickers. Cigars for the men, " Turkish Delight " for the ladies, curious toys for the children, all sorts of useless trifles for everybody. Nearly everybody bought some- thing, if for no other reason than to be spending money after an enforced abstinence of many days from that pleasing occupation. In the crowd was a magician a real Oriental juggler. From the nose of a haughty Briton who resented the indignity and cuffed the trick- ster on the ear, he pulled a little, peeping chick. From the head of the chick, another was drawn forth. In a moment both had vanished, nobody knew where. The man then borrowed a sovereign from a passenger. Another agreed to hold it or to forfeit a pound of his own. Yet a few seconds after he had closed his hand tightly over it, he had to admit, with some confusion, that it was gone. Where it was remained a mystery until the wizard said it could be found in the pocket of another passenger in the outskirts of the crowd. There, sure enough, it was, identified by date and other marks. Finally, the wonder- worker poured a little heap of sand upon the deck. After passing a mangoe seed around for inspec- FIRES OF DESIRE 65 tion, he hid it in the sand and covered it with a cloth. Incantations were muttered, and when the cloth was removed a tiny green shoot was seen. Repeating the process several times, the man at last displayed to his delighted audience a good-sized mangoe tree. Thus on the open deck of the ship, and without accomplices, the lad mystified the company with trick after trick. In the midst of exclamations of astonishment, and applause, and liberal back- sheesh, a venerable traveler who had spent many years in India, stalked by. " Boy," he said with high disdain, " go home, and send us your grandfather to show us some- thing worth while." That did not make the tricks less wonderful, of course. But, somehow, Frank and the others felt ashamed to have been caught enjoying what Nestor considered a very tame show. Alas, that those who have drunk the draught of life to the dregs have to go about casting bitterness into the cup of other's joy! All that was forgotten, though, when it was possible to go ashore. Nes- tor did not go; not he! He had seen better shores, and could not understand why people were mad enough to visit such a town as the Port. Fortunately for the merchants of the town who had sundry wares to dispose of at exorbitant 66 FIRES OF DESIRE prices, all the company were not so well seasoned. It seemed to Frank that the whole place must be made up of equal parts of noise and dirt, with just enough Oriental color and gewgaws to give spice to the mixture. A conviction, destined to strengthen the farther east he went, came upon him then that if the germ theory were ever en- forced in that part of the world the life of the entire populace would not be worth a moment's purchase. He went the rounds donkey rides, bargaining, and all and got back to the ship a tireder and poorer man. Comparing bargains and experiences afforded the company amusement for hours after the ship left. One good woman was indignant that every- body had taken advantage of the poor trades- men, and had bought their goods at ruinous prices. She knew the prices were ruinous to the poor souls, for she had heard them declaring, sometimes with tears streaming down their cheeks, that financial ruin would be the result of that day's work. She herself had the peace of conscience that came from a knowledge that all her purchases were made at the merchants' ask- ing price. If they considered the matter at all in the light of ethical standards, those traders must have had a bad quarter of an hour with their consciences. Probably they contented them- FIRES OF DESIRE 67 selves with the thought that someone else would have robbed the lady if they had not; or yet more probably, they were sadder at the thought of what they lost by not asking her more, than they were at the recollection of any sharp bar- gaining on the part of wily purchasers who cut th'eir profits low. " Look at these beautiful boxes of ' Turkish Delights ! ' " cried a young lady. " The man asked a crown a box for them, and I bought them for two bob. Such a bargain ! " " Oh, but look at mine," said someone else. " I gave only a shilling a box, and they are the same size and brand." " Why the wretch, then he cheated me after all !" she declared with disgust. It is not pleas- ant to be outwitted in a sharp bargain. " I made the greatest trade of my life," re- marked a youth. " Man offered me this fine cigar-holder for a pound. It's first-class meer- schaum with amber mouthpiece. Don't you know, I bought it for half a crown." " Fancy that !" and " Lucky beggar !" the audi- tors ejaculated, while the proud possessor of the prize puffed vigorously at his cigar. The cigar was about gone, and a spark touched the holder just at that moment. When, lo ! there was a flash and a sputter, and the cherished 68 FIRES OF DESIRE possession went up in fire and smoke. Meer- schaum and amber were but base celluloid, and the whole had not been worth a farthing. Thus they all took their first lessons in the school which was to teach them that " for ways that are dark " the heathen Chinee is not peculiar among the heathen. The slow passage through the Suez Canal had its own particular novelty. After that came the Bed Sea, hot despite the lateness of the season. The men took to sleeping on the deck, and many of the ladies forsook their cabins for the more airy music room. It was not hard to believe that in the hot season it was sometimes necessary to put the ship about and steam back over her course against the wind for a few hours, to revive the drooping passengers. Not until Aden was reached did the ship stop again. As Frank stood looking out upon the little settlement surrounded by sandy wastes and barren hills, the captain stopped beside him. " What do you think of the place? " he asked. " Kather desolate, seems to me," Frank re- plied. " That it is," said the captain. " No wonder that Pat expressed himself about it as he did 1 Faith, and is this Aden ! Be jabbers, Oi'm glad me ancistors et the pippin an' got kicked out be- FIRES OF DESIRE 69 fore Oi was born, fer Oi'd not be fer stayin in such a Garden of Aden.' ' Much pleased at the young man's hearty laugh at his oft-told joke, the old tar passed on to tell it to others. Since 1839 Aden has belonged to the British, being a part of the Indian Empire. It is an im- portant port of call, and a coaling station for steamers. Adjacent land has passed to the Eng- lish by cession or purchase, the Arab chiefs hav- ing been reconciled to the change by permanent government pensions. There are not wanting those among the foreigners in Arabia, and even many among the most progressive natives, who hope to see the day when England's beneficent rule shall supersede that of the incompetent Turk throughout the peninsula. It would mean peace, and evenhanded justice, and prosperity, where now none of these is found. There were squadrons of small boats and rafts about the ship, all filled with little Arabs. They were anxious and clamorous to dive for coins thrown into the water. As an additional incen- tive to the passengers to bestow largess, the lit- tle savages regaled them with verses of " Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true," and kindred ditties. Frank wondered whether they had other national airs in their repertoire for the 70 FIRES OF DESIRE benefit of ships of other nations. In defiance of the danger of being devoured by the sharks that infest the waters, little chaps would dive from the dizzy height of the hurricane deck, in the hope of recovering a sixpence tossed over- board. Ostrich feathers of various sizes, in plumes and boas, seemed the chief commodity offered for sale. Profiting by former experiences, the passengers bought cautiously. Some of the feathers were of real value, but many were made up of small and poor tips. Perhaps some were even the product of the Western genius that can fashion the plum- age of every possible and impossible bird from the feathers of common barn-yard fowls. Stanton joined a party that went ashore while the ship coaled. The town did not prove much more interesting than the settlement at the land- ing had, except that it was built in the crater of an extinct volcano. The party drove out to see the famous tanks. " Why," said Frank in astonishment when he saw the vast reservoirs, " I didn't expect to see anything like this. I thought they would be great iron or wooden tanks something like what we have along our railroads for water." " No," said an old traveler, " In the East any pond or lake or reservoir is called a tank." FIRES OF DESIRE 71 The Aden tanks are worth seeing. No one seerns to know just how or when they were built. In that almost rainless region, their construction was a blessing. They are the more remarkable because Arabia is almost totally destitute of all ancient works of architecture and engineering. Built of solid masonry, arranged to receive and store up all the rainfall, one overflowing into another until all were filled, they constitute a work of real skill. Ibn Batuta, the noted Moorish traveler, found them in use when he visited the little city early in the fourteenth century. The town was then a great trading port. But town and tanks were alike well-nigh deserted when the trade between Europe, Africa, and the East was diverted by the route around the Cape. With the opening up of the Suez Canal, trade and popula- tion came again to Aden. The English have re- paired and restored the reservoirs, and they are now in use. Rain, however, is so rare and scanty that little dependence is placed upon its coming. Water is now secured chiefly by distillation from the sea. A few hours later the steamer was plowing the waters again. Across the Arabian Sea, into the Indian Ocean where the Southern Cross looked down upon them by night, they held their course. And then, one morning they caught a glimpse of 72 FIRES OF DESIRE Paradise, a vision of the isle " where every pros- pect pleases" beautiful Ceylon. Frank saw it first from a distance in the early morning, green clad to the water's edge. Later, the ship anchored in the spacious harbor of Co- lombo, and the nearer view dissipated none of the charm of the first view. After Port Said, and Aden, and the waste of waters for many days, the harbor full of ships of every size, the panorama of the stately city, and the encircling background of verdure were all grateful to the eyes. Every- one was anxious to get ashore. Frank, bent up- on gaining experience, chose a catamaran to con- vey him. He enjoyed the novelty of a ride in the strange, narrow craft. When he got to the city he felt that he was in the Orient indeed. The young man walked up a street lined with bazars filled with bewilderingly beautiful needle- work, and wood carvings, and silver-ware. It was not easy to resist the importunity of the merchants, so ably seconded by the mute appeal of their tempting wares. After a little he took a jinrikisha, one of those odd, man-drawn car- riages, first designed by a Japanese missionary for the use of his invalid wife, and since then find- ing their way all over the East. The sleek, nearly naked, brown, little man drawing the 'rikisha trotted briskly about from street to FIRES OF DESIRE 73 street. In execrable English he tried to indicate the chief points of interest shops, government buildings, temples, churches, palaces, and huts. Leaving the overpaid man loudly clamoring for more money, after the manner of all his kind, Frank hailed a carriage to take him to more distant places. Through the fragrant Cinnamon Gardens, out to Mount Lavinia for a good rest and a sumptuous tiffin in the hotel by the sea, then back to town along the palm-lined roads in the cool of the day, and so out to the ship in time for dinner and sailing. Thus the day ended. It had given Stanton some idea of the life awaiting him. He had seen something of the splendor and squalor of a modern Oriental city. For the first time he had looked into Buddhist and Hindu tem- ples with their strange pictures, grotesque images, and motley worshipers. The next port would be Calcutta, his destination and field of labor. Would it be like Colombo? He hoped that it would have some of that city's attractive- ness to mingle with his toil. The Bay of Bengal proved rough, as it often does. Some of the company who had flattered themselves that they had their sea-legs on too firmly to lose them, were wofully surprised. In deep disgust with himself, a Scotchman, who was 74 FIRES OF DESIRE making the voyage for his health, vowed he would go home by land. " Why," he growled, " here I've been sailing for a month, and thought I was well past getting upset like this." " Probably he has been eating and drinking too much," said the captain, when Frank told him about the Scot. " You look out for that in India, my lad," he added. " No end of young chaps finish themselves that way in the tropics." " By the way," the old skipper exclaimed after a moment, " that reminds me of what Pat said when the colonel of his regiment died l Yis, they eats and they drinks, and they drinks and they eats till they dies, and thin they writes home and tells their friends it's the climate as killed thim.' " They got to the mouth of the Hooghly River just too late to enter that day, for the tide was running out. " Too bad to miss it by such a little," said Frank to a young tea-planter. "All bally foolishness," declared the planter impatiently. " Why didn't they steam up and get into the river before the tide ran out? Fancy a Yankee captain doing a thing like that. He'd burst his boilers but he'd get there in time to save twelve hours' wait." FIRES OF DESIRE 75 The Briton had spent some years in 'America, and in his impatience had condescended to tickle Frank's ears, as an Englishman seldom does, by praising Yankee ways. Next day they entered the river. But the channel is narrow, and the current swift and treacherous, so they made slow progress. The eighty miles up to the city were not covered that day. Night found them anchored again, awaiting light and tide. It was tedious and hot on board, and the mosquitoes invaded the cabins and made sleep difficult. No one was sorry when the last few miles of the long journey were begun with the dawn of day. Could they have foreseen what awaited them in India, perhaps they would have been less impatient to land. The country exacts a heavy tribute from every shipload of foreigners set upon its shores discomfort, sickness, anxiety, moral ruin, death. But none thought of the like that day as they hailed with delight the first sight of the City of Palaces. Past Fort William, and the wide Maidan, and the beautiful Eden Gardens, the ship swept. Then it made fast to the landing. Amid the rush of many feet, and the clamor of many voices, Frank made his way to the gang-plank. A hand reached out of the crowd and grasped his. A 76 FIRES OF DESIRE voice of kindly greeting sounded in his ears. Richard Clifford led him through a mob of shout- ing coolies out upon the landing. At last, he was in the capital of Imperial India. FIRES OF DESIRE 77 CHAPTER V THE SHADOW OF COMING EVENTS " You can't believe how glad I am to see you," said Clifford, after the first greetings were ex- changed. " You are a reminder from home and old times, and a helper to a hard-worked man. I can see all sorts of good things for the work, now that you have come." "I want to help all I can," Frank replied; " but you will have to give me time to Orient my- self in more senses than one." As they pushed their way through the throng, they were beset by the coolies clamoring for a chance to earn a few pice by carrying some- thing for them. " What are these naked savages gibbering about? " asked the newcomer. " Oh, they are not very savage, and they are only asking for work in very intelligible, if not very classic, Hindustani," responded his compan- ion. 78 FIRES OF DESIRE They soon made their way to a waiting car- riage, and started for home. An agent would get Stanton's luggage and effects through the Custom House, and deliver them in good time. The car- riage sped along the Strand, and into Harrison Road. It was hard to see how the coachman avoided running into the endless procession of bullock carts, and the hundreds of men who walked in the street in preference to the side- walk. The driver seemed to pay little attention to anything in the way: the syce upon the step at the rear of the carriage cleared the road by dint of vociferous yelling. When they neared a corner to be turned he would get down and dash ahead to warn men and vehicles out of the path of the coach. Then, as the carriage dashed past, he would nimbly jump again to his place. It was all very exciting to the stranger. He momen- tarily expected any number of men to be ground under hoofs and wheels. As they neared Harrison Hoard, Stanton saw the great pontoon bridge that spans the river, and all day long is packed with vehicles and men, surging back and forth between Calcutta and Howrah. Harrison Road is wide, for it was cut by the government in recent years through a sea of huts and a labyrinth of narrow lanes. It is macadamized and electric lighted, and affords a FIRES OF DESIRE 79 reasonably straight way for traffic and fresh air. But it could not make anyone think of a Western city. It is lined with lofty buildings of strange architecture. Many streets cross it, so narrow that a wheelbarrow could hardly be pushed through them. The myriad vehicles that fill the street are nearly all carts drawn by small, hump-necked oxen, or large, antediluvian water- buffaloes. They are driven by men who are naked except for a loin cloth, squatting on the poles of the carts between their animals, and urging them on by heavy blows and cruel twists of their tails. And the people what Western city ever dreamed of the like? Men turbaned and men bareheaded ; men in garments of ample fold and men with almost no garments at all. Cloth of every color of the rainbow in turbans and in gar- ments, and faces of men and women that varied from the shade of strong coffee without cream, to that of cream with a little coffee in it. All that could be found only in India. Frank had time that day to note but little of it before they whisked around the corner of Cornwallis Street. Thence they were soon borne to the stately house of the Mukerji's. Upon the wide veranda Mrs. Clifford met the young stranger most graciously, and soon made 8o FIRES OF DESIRE him feel at home. She would have done no less for any friend that her husband might have brought to their home. For this man who had come to lighten her husband's burdens, she would gladly have done more. There was mail await- ing him from the home-land, so he was shown to his room at once, that he might read it, and then rest till the two o'clock tiffin. Frank found the room large and lofty and airy, with its mosquito-net curtained bed standing in the center, for the sake of the breeze at night. There was plenty of spare room around it, how- ever. The usual bathroom opened off the bed- room, and all things for his comfort were at hand. So Frank read his letters and unpacked the bags he had brought with him. Then, dressing for lunch, he lay back in an armchair with a sigh of contentment and relief. He was in his new home, and he found it delightful and restful. It was the munificence of Satis Kumar Mukerji that had made it possible for the new missionary to find shelter in such a home. Yet the young man's entrance into that home was to entail sor- row upon the last of the Mukerji line. If the spirit of the good man knew aught of the future ill, as he looked down that day from the realms of the blessed, he must also have known something of higher good to be wrought thereby. So no FIRES OF DESIRE 81 cloud presaging disaster was in the sky that day, and none cast any gloom over the dwellers in that house. At tiffin Stanton met the daughter of the house, Radha Mukerji. She wore the name of the beau- tiful consort of the god Krishna, not because her father was devoted to that divinity at the time of his daughter's birth; it was a name of long stand- ing in the family. She met the young man with a shy, but not self-conscious grace when he was presented to her. He thought the skilfully blend- ed combination of the costume of the East and the West that she wore was very becoming to her. Her clear skin was not darker than the faces of many ladies of Greece or Italy. With her delicately molded features, her dark hair demurely parted and smoothed back from her broad, low brow, her soft brown eyes, and her gentle, musical voice, the young man thought her a very charming little person. It seemed to him odd at first to hear her talking English with scarcely the shadow of an accent, even though he had read of the thousands of educated Indians who know the language from their childhood. The tiffin hour passed most pleasantly. But life was not to be all resting and feasting for the new recruit. As they strolled out to the veranda. Clifford introduced the subject of work. 82 FIRES OF DESIRE " By the way, Stanton, the pastor of the Euro- pean church is laid up with a bad cold, and asked me to get you to preach for him Sunday. You'll help him out, I know. I shall want your help, too, in a big open air meeting I hope to hold Sunday in Cornwallis Square." " Why, man," protested Stanton, " can't you give me time to draw my breath? This is Thurs- day now. What do I know about your open air preaching? Let me see you at such work before I try it." " Oh, you may see how I do it," was the reply. " I'll be there and speak before you in Bengali." Objections were vain, and so work began at once. Nor was it without its pleasure to Stan- ton. In his own church and in other European congregations he was soon in demand, and was gladly heard. Audiences of students and other educated Bengalis whom he addressed were favorably impressed by him from the first. Had he cared to spend all his time in such labor he might have done so. But he was determined to devote himself to the study of the language dur- ing his first years in India. What with study and preaching, his days were soon full. Yet there was often time in the cool of the day to drive with the ladies about the city and on the Maidan. In all he found the little FIRES OF DESIRE 83 Bengali lady as useful as she was charming. At church when he preached, and in their conver- sation when the talk was of the ways of far-off Western lands, she was the receiver. But when preparing his lessons for the old Pundit, or while driving about to rest brain and body, he found her a helpful counselor, or an instructive guide. Not many girls in Bengal had lived under such influences and received such an education as had Radha Mukerji. Her father had persistently re- fused to marry her to anyone as a child. He had been without fear of the curses pronounced by his sacred books upon those who let girls pass from childhood to maidenhood without being married. So he had put aside the proposals of all the fathers who came to him to arrange an alliance between his daughter and their sons. Satis Kumar felt well satisfied that their concern for the souls of himself and his child was greatly heightened by visions of the munificent dowry the girl would take to their impecunious sons. Thus Radha had not been cut off from education by wifehood and motherhood at an age when Wes- tern children are just getting fairly started with their schooling. From the first, Mukerji had provided his daughter with efficient instructors. When she 84 FIRES OF DESIRE was prepared for it, he had sent her to Bethune College, that she might come into contact with other girls at study. He did not much care that the college was made up largely of Christian and Brahmo girls of various castes. It was enough distinction to have his child outrival all the others in scholarship, no matter what their caste or creed. Whether studying at home under a tutor, or in the college near by, the father care- fully supervised her studies and aided her in them. They talked and read much together. In the later years of her father's life Radha had known all his thoughts and plans. Thus she be- came thoroughly familiar with all the history and institutions of her people. With him, she longed to correct the evils of the country, and see it united and prosperous and free. Like him, too, her loyal heart could ill endure any harsh criti- cisms by foreigners of the misfortunes and sins of her countrymen. A life of such training and companionship had taught the young girl how to think and reason. But she did not often do it. There were too many other elements in her nature. The training of her mothers, through uncounted generations, had its influence. It all told against independence and reason, and for submission and sentiment. Her cousin, the chief factor in the girl's earliest FIRES OF DESIRE 85 years, was decidedly a woman of the old school. Her ayahs had been from the same school, but from its lower classes, so to speak. Totally il- literate, but well versed in the folk-lore of the past and the gossip of the present, they had much to teach a child in the many hours that they were together. One old woman had come to her as ayah when Radha was in her sixth year, and had remained with her ever since. To the kind-hearted old Sukia, the Bengali girl had given the same de- votion that used to exist between the rich planters' children and their black mammies dur- ing the old regime in the South. Thus in the most impressionable period of her life, and from those of her own sex nearest to her, Radha had felt the potent spell of the forces that have been working for millenniums to make the women of India what they are. The result was inevitable, and easily foreseen. When the girl stopped to reason, she was guided by the powers that had made and controlled her father, the forces of the New India. But in all the larger ranges of her life, where instinct and feeling were regnant, she was a true daughter of the Old India. Hence, when she acted upon im- pulse, and under the guidance of her sub-con- scious self, as everybody does ordinarily act, her 86 FIRES OF DESIRE course was determined by the superstitions and sentiments born in her, and nurtured by the ig- norant women about her. Radha appreciated something of all this her- self. She had been led to introspection, and the analysis of her thoughts and motives by the ques- tioning of her father and some of her teachers. After puzzling himself for some time over her in- consistencies, Frank one day ventured to speak of the matter to her. " Radha, how is it that you talk as though you believe the strange tales and superstitions of this country while you are a Christian? " "Why shouldn't I?" she replied, fencing. " Don't Christian people in the West believe in Santa Glaus, and all sorts of superstitions about lucky and unlucky days and numbers? " " Oh, but only children believe in Saint Nick, and your education ought to keep you from all superstitions, whether of the kind prevalent here or in my country," said Stanton. She laughed a low, rippling laugh. " It does," she said, " when I stop to think and give it a start. But it is usually only in unimportant things that I do it, and not even then when my inclinations lead me after my instincts." " But that isn't reasonable," protested the man. " Of course not," she admitted, " but I am FIRES OF DESIRE 87 only part reason, so why should that part of me rule the whole time? " " Surely it is better to have one safe faculty reign always than to let them take turns indis- criminately, and run the risk of anarchy," he urged. " Ah, but now you are not talking like a good American," cried the girl quickly. " Why not have a good democracy such as you believe in for your nation? " She was demonstrating in the contest that cold reason is not everything. He could not corner her. But having successfully resisted conquest, she was, womanlike, ready for volun- tary surrender. " No doubt you are right," she confessed ; " but how hard it is to act so always, even when we want to. When inclination is the other way, how hopeless the case is for poor reason. Is it not Boswell who tells us that ' Dr. Johnson once ob- served, that the force of our early habits was so great that though reason approved, nay, though our senses relished a different course, almost every man returned to them '? " To tell the truth, all that the young man evef knew of Dr. Johnson was what he had read, and forgotten, in a few pages of a text-book on Eng- lish literature. But that was a truth he did not 88 FIRES OF DESIRE care to tell to the Bengali girl who could quote so aptly. Forgetting the theology which taught him to believe that even though the leopard could not change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his skin, there is a Power that can figuratively do both in man's regeneration, he answered her in astonish- ment. " It is a wonder, then, that you are a Chris- tian." " That," she said reverently, " is the result of reason, and of faith and love that followed reason." Then she added with a little sigh. " I often think that in all my impulses, and in my love of the traditions and customs of my country, I am not Christian, but heathen." The girl was right in most that she said. The blood of her ancestors, and the training of her childhood had fixed the trend of her life. Only when it came sharply into conflict with her prin- ciples acquired in later life was there hope that it could be changed. Radha's childhood had been very happy, and all her life had been sheltered and protected. With a rose planted at every step of her early life, was it not certain that later days would be spent in a wilderness of flowers? Alas! there were many thorns among the roses. What wonder, then, if in the after days, as she wan* FIRES OF DESIRE 89 dered among the flowers, thinking only of their beauty and perfume, many cruel thorns tore her little hands and feet. Meanwhile, the young Kentuckian and the Ben- gali girl were much together. She seemed to him a fascinating child. She was not yet eighteen, and small of stature and slight of form, even though beautifully developed, as all Bengali women are at an early age. Her manners were simple and artless with the young man who had become one of the household and her daily in- timate. To the dear girl who was waiting for him beyond the seas Stanton wrote charming de- scriptions of his new friend, and accounts of their talks and drives together. It was all good com- radeship and brotherliness on his part, towards this little, dark stranger. As for her, it was a new experience to associate with a young man. Social life was exceedingly limited for her. Practically all the girls of the land were married and secluded in their hus- bands' homes as mere children. Intercourse be- tween men and women was unheard of. This genial, handsome man, with his easy manners, meeting her in the free and friendly way that his dwelling under the same roof made natural, in- troduced her to a world of thoughts and feelings hitherto undreamed of. Whether listening to 90 FIRES OF DESIRE him preaching in some church, or talking with him as they sat together in the library, or walked or drove in the park, it was with an admiration for him that soon deepened into adoration. Something of what his life was coming to mean to her dawned upon her one evening, just at sun- set, as they were talking together. To Frank it was another proof of the power of superstitious fancies over Radha's mind. When viewed in the light of later events, the incident may serve as an indication that there are, indeed, more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamed of in men's philosophies. . The day had been hot. As the library darkened, Stanton had laid aside his books and gone up to the terrace, or flat roof of the house. There he discovered Radha, leaning upon the rail- ing, and gazing out upon the sunset sky. When he came upon her he thought what a pretty pic- ture she made there. In her great, dark eyes there was a faraway look. The breeze was gently tossing her hair. Her chin was resting in the palm of one hand, while the other arm stretched along the wide railing. " Isn't it beautiful," Frank said, as he watched the deepening glow in the western sky. There were a few clouds on the horizon, and the sunset was unusually gorgeous for Calcutta,. "Oh, she said, it is an evil omen of a blot upon your life." FIRES OF DESIRE 91 There, as elsewhere in India, there is little after- glow or twilight after the sun is down. As the girl said nothing, Stanton divided his attention between her and the sky for a moment. Then he spoke again. " A penny for your thoughts." She looked up rather shyly, but replied with her usual artlessness. " I was thinking just now that this beautiful sky is like the life you are living, it is so full of brightness. And see," she cried, pointing to the changing tints in the west, " as it gets older it grows more splendid." He smiled at her childlike fancy, and watched the sky as she pointed. Suddenly, when the tints were of burnished gold and richest amber, a great smoke-stack far across the intervening house-tops, and the sea of low, tiled huts, belched forth a column of black smoke that threw its blot athwart the glory of the heavens. With a startled cry, the girl covered her eyes. " Oh," she said, " it is an evil omen of a blot upon your life." Though he laughed at her, she turned away and would not look towards the west again. In a few moments she complained of the damp and cool- ness, and went down into the house. 92 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER VI ECHOES OF BYGONE TIMES THERE were often many days when Frank and Radha saw little of each other. His was a busy life, with his study and preaching. Nor was the girl an idler. She spent much time in charitable work amongst the poor of her people. Usually, she accompanied Mrs. Clifford when that lady went about in the homes of well-to-do Bengalis, visiting and teaching their wives. Often, however, there were evenings when they were together in the library while he studied Bengali and appealed to her for aid. Commonly they were alone on such occasions, for the other members of the household had duties elsewhere. Upon rare occasions Stanton was at leisure in the afternoons when the ladies went driving on the Maidan. He would then accompany them. After driving about until nearly dusk, the car- riage would halt near the band-stand in the Eden Gardens. Whilst Mrs. Clifford either sat in tne FIRES OF DESIRE 93 carriage listening to the music, or went with her child and the ayah as the little one ran about on the grass, Frank and Eadha often strolled to- gether in the Garden. The girl had come to look eagerly forward to such golden hours. They were doubly precious to her, because they enabled her at once to enjoy and to help the man whose presence thrilled her. The maternal instinct in women makes them hap- piest when mothering the objects of their love. Towards the men who win their hearts, this takes the form of efforts to make themselves useful and indispensable to them. Radha was proud to be able to help Frank in his struggle with her native tongue. She was glad to have him ask about everything of interest in the city. Especially was she delighted to show her race in the most favorable light when talking over its history. In that she was prompted by the patriotism her father had kindled in her heart, as well as by the more or less clearly perceived thought that she might thus enhance the man's respect for her. Stanton appreciated her aid and enjoyed her society. It was pleasant to argue with her and draw her out in defense of the people and cus- toms of her land. There was no better way to learn the thought of her people, and it was in- teresting to watch the girl as she earnestly and 94 FIRES OF DESIRE vivaciously talked. In his desire to be with her, he was conscious of nothing beyond the pleasure of such intercourse, and an affection of a kind that he might have offered to a younger sister. Of course, of the fires he was causing to glow in the warm heart of that child of the tropics he knew nothing. They were driving through Lower Chitpore Road one day, on the way to Chowringhi Road and the park. Narrow, crowded, dirty, mal- odorous the street was not one to choose for a pleasure drive. " Oh, dear," cried Mrs. Clifford, " why did the coachman come this way instead of going down College Street. That is bad enough." " I notice," said Frank, " that he always comes this way if he isn't told to go the other road. He seems to like this dirt." " This isn't dirt to him," said Radha. " You should have seen Calcutta in the old days that I have heard father talk about. He never saw them, but the stories have come down in the family. That was before the English really took things in hand." a Could it have been worse than this street, and these lanes? Look yonder." Mrs. Clifford pointed down a filthy lane. The wretched huts were crowded closely to- FIRES OF DESIRE 95 gether. Men and women were jostling to and fro. Naked children screamed and scampered about. Mud and rubbish were everywhere. The carcass of a dog was being devoured by kites and crows. " But my people were here when the whole city was far worse," the girl replied. " After the British established their trading center here, the people crowded in by thousands. They would get a little bit of land, dig a deep hole on one part of it, and make a house out of the mud dug up. Then they would let the hole fill with water in the rains, and wash in it, and drink it, and cook with it all the year. The most of the country about was a swamp and a jungle. Bodies of all kinds of dead animals were thick along the river, and even in the streets. Why, my father's grand- father used to see the bodies of beggars, who had died of want and disease, lying in the streets until the vultures and jackals devoured them. No wonder nearly everybody died in those old days. Wasn't it horrible? " " Doesn't that prove that the Indians are not civilized? " Frank asked, with a sly wink at Mrs. Clifford. " No doubt it would be as bad now if the English would let your people have their way." " No, they are not uncivilized," Radha insist- ed. " The lower classes are always dirty if let 96 FIRES OF DESIRE alone. And it is not so very long ago that things were nearly as bad in England. My people were slower in developing, and have not the practical, organizing ability of the English. But they had philosophy and literature much earlier." By that time they were rolling along the wide, smooth roads of the Maidan. To their left were the stately mansions of wealthy Europeans. On the right hand flowed the broad river upon which were anchored many great ships. Farther south frowned the lofty walls of Fort William. Along the roads, traps and carriages of every sort sped hither and thither, drawn by imported thorough- bred horses. On the level, green turf, gentlemen were playing cricket and tennis. The cool, fresh air was blowing softly from the south. Fash- ionable Calcutta had done its day's work, and was out for rest and recreation. " This is living ! " Frank exclaimed. Then they all drew deep breaths, and settled back in their seats to enjoy it to the full in silence. Later, they drove to the Eden Gardens at the northern end of the Maidan, and stretching from it to the grounds and palace of the Viceroy. There, every evening in the year, a band plays, while people by the hundred sit in their carriages, or wander amongst the trees and flowers listening to the music. FIRES OF DESIRE 97 Badha and Frank left the carriage and strolled over to the Burmese Pagoda and sat down. Flowers filled the air with heavy perfume. The plash of fountains blended with the more distant music of the military band. Dusk was falling, and the roadways were being outlined by electric lights and gas lamps. Between the rows of lights, like a myriad brilliant fireflies, darted the lan- terns of moving carriages. " No wonder they call it Eden Garden," the young man said. " It is not named for Adam's garden, though," Radha told him. " The Edens were one of the early English families in Calcutta. The two Eden sisters gave these grounds to the city." " All this seems so little like what I expected to find in India." Stanton said. " Nothing could be more enchanting. Has the country anything to equal it that the English didn't make? " " Yes, some of the Rajahs' parks," the girl made answer. " And wait till you see the Taj by moonlight. One night, at full moon, I sat with Father, looking at it for three hours, and neither of us spoke a word. We were upon the raised marble platform where the fountain plays in the garden. We were there early, when no one else was near, and it was very still. About ten o'clock many people came, and a band began to play. 98 FIRES OF DESIRE The music sounded far away, stealing upon us through the trees. It seemed like a dream, or a glimpse into fairyland. Had it all melted away, or slowly risen to the skies, I should not have felt surprised. But I cannot tell you about it ; no one can. You will know when you see." " I hope you can be there too, and help me en- joy it, little girl," he said. It made her heart leap. She could not know that he was thinking they would all go and see it together after Mabel had come to him from Ken- tucky. He had never mentioned his betrothed to Radha. That was not strange, for he never talked of her to anyone, not even his own mother. No one in India knew anything of his private affairs. There are two classes of people who do not speak of such matters those whose love is very shallow, and those whose love is deep. The one class think nothing of wife or sweetheart when absent from her. The other think with a depth of devotion that shrinks from public expression. Just as some men cannot bear to express their thought of God because their lives make them dread Him; while others cannot, because a holy reverence seals their lips. Stanton was of the latter type. When the lads at college had talked of the lassies who happened FIRES OF DESIRE 99 to b'e temporarily enshrined in their hearts, he had always been silent. They had known enough of his visits to the Everest home to draw their own conclusions. One day they had pinned on his back a paper inscribed ' I am in love, but a team of horses Shall not pluck that from me, Nor who 'tis I love.' He had flushed with angry embarrassment when he found why all the boys laughed as he walked down the chapel aisle with the placard on his back. But he had never said anything about it. So he never thought of speaking to any of his friends in India of the affairs of his heart. Alas that unconscious virtue often seems to work as much harm in the world as conscious vice ! Had the Wise Man some such thought in mind when he wrote " Be not righteous overmuch . . . . . for why shouldst thou destroy thyself? " As the darkness gathered, the young people made their way back to the carriage. Mrs. Clif- ford soon ordered the coachman to drive home. " And not through Bentinck Street, and Lower Chitpore," she added. " Go out Dhurrumtullah to Wellington Street." It was one of the disadvantages of living where ioo FIRES OF DESIRE they did, that to get from the pure air of the Maidan they had to drive through a long stretch of streets that were bad at best. Though far removed from the bottomless filth of the earlier days of the city, or even of the places then to be found off the broader thoroughfares, those streets were neither quiet nor savory. The ubiquitous population was thronging everywhere. Beggars importuned aid at every turn, reinforcing their cries by an exhibition of sightless eyes, mangled stumps of arms and legs, and leprosy-eaten hands and faces. To Frank, with his strong nerves, the streets were of perennial interest. The little bazars and shops, with no fronts to intercept the view, showed all sorts of craftsmen at work. " There is a piece of Inferno," he exclaimed, as they passed a group of shops where, in the lurid glow of their fires, were seen the shining brown bodies of the workmen squatting like monkeys over their work. They were making Bengali sweets, or baking great chappaties, or blowing rude little glass lamps. " I'm sure the imps of the lower regions will look like that," he added. After studying the street scenes in silence for a time, he said, " There is one thing I must do before I am many days older. That is to visit all FIRES OF DESIRE 101 the landmarks of early Calcutta. Won't you ladies show them to me some day? " " Radha will, I know," said Mrs. Clifford. "She knows them all, and I don't; and she doesn't mind poking around in the heat as I do." So it was agreed that they two should make the round together on the first free day he could find from his work. That night the girl dreamed that she sat with Frank in the glorious moonlight at Agra. But as they gazed in rapt wonder upon the snowy beauty of the Taj, it slowly dissolved before them. Then in a moment there yawned in its place a cavernous depth in which she saw countless dreadful imps dancing about sulphurous fires. When she turned to Frank for help, she found to her horror that he had changed into a fiery demon who seized her and dragged her down into the flames. She awoke with terrified cries, and was not comforted even when she knew that it was but a dream. During the next week they found a day in which to explore the city. Calcutta has in it many things of interest, but very little of anti- quarian value. It is so distressingly new when compared with places like Delhi and Agra, to say nothing of the far older temples of southern In- dia. When the English traders established their 102 FIRES OF DESIRE station there in 1686, there were just a few strag- gling villages in the area now embraced by the capital city and its suburbs. Those villages boasted neither temple nor mosque of any im- portance. Perhaps the shrine of Kali Ghat should be excepted. It stands 1 near a narrow stream that was once the channel of the Ganges. Its gro- tesque idol is worshiped by thousands of pilgrims who come from near and far. From the goddess and her ghat the name of the city seems to have been derived. Far back in the dim centuries when were written those great Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the temple was there. But that was certainly not the present structure. Other Hindu temple of consequence there is none. The chief mosque, that of Ghulam Mohammed, and the elaborate Jain temple are not old. Of course, there is nothing really ancient amongst the many noble buildings, and statues, and gardens belonging to the British era. Nor are there even many places dating back to the first days of the English occupancy. Hence it was not an overly difficult task to view the few landmarks of old Calcutta. There was old St. John's Church, destroyed in the terrible days of 1756, but restored later. FIRES OF DESIRE 103 " It was the English cathedral for many years." Radha told Frank. " Where the present cathe- dral now stands, Warren Hastings and others used to hunt tigers in an almost trackless jungle." They drove along the west side of Dalhousie Square, with its large and beautiful tank. It is now surrounded by many of the noblest public buildings and business houses to be found in India. " Before the water-works were built," the girl explained, " this tank used to be one of the chief sources of water supply for the city. It is said to be quite pure even yet. And the park around it was once the favorite afternoon resort for fash- ionable Calcutta, as Eden Garden is now." Driving to the General Post Office, they left their carriage to explore the boundaries of the old Fort William. It was begun in 1696. In 1818 it was demolished, after having been aban- I doned for the new fort. Then the present Custom ] House and other buildings were erected on the old site. Thus the places of chief interest, includ- ing the Black Hole, were swept away and for- gotten. The early American settlers usually began their work by cutting down all the trees on their land to get a " clearing " for house and fields. 104 FIRES OF DESIRE Then when trees were scarce enough to be prized, their successors set out saplings and waited through shadeless years for them to grow large and cast a grateful shadow. So most men demol- ish places that else would come to be of priceless historic value, and leave later comers to discover, as best they can, the spots where once they stood. By such a process the Black Hole passed out of existence, and the memory of it perished. The very monument erected by the chief survivor of the tragedy to the memory of his less fortunate companions, fell into decay and oblivion. Near the entrance to the driveway in the rear of the Post Office, Radha pointed out the sup- posed site of the notorious death trap. It is marked now by a pavement of black marble sur- rounded by a railing of iron, while a brass tablet set in the wall of the building standing upon the northern boundary of the spot tells the story of the horror. A few years later than the time Stan- ton was there, a reproduction of the original monument was set up in the street near by. After viewing the site and discussing the history of the Black Hole for a few moments, the young people walked to the other spots marked as the chief boundaries of the old fort. " Why, how can this be the location of the wall nearest the river? " asked Stanton. " I am sure FIRES OF DESIRE 105 I have seen old pictures that show the gate open- ing right on the river bank. Look how far this is from the water." " Yes, but the river channel has greatly changed since then," replied his guide. " You remember the great archway on the Maidan called Princeps Ghat? Well, that was once a landing, but it is high and dry now. In the old days the river ran close by here. From here some of the people escaped easily to the ships before the fort fell. As the channel changed the land here was made and built upon." " We must go home now," said Stanton. " It is getting too hot for this sort of thing." On the way home he began to talk about those old days of trouble, and the part played in them by the natives of the land. When they were at last comfortably seated on the shady veranda, he opened a discussion with the girl, partly to gain information, and partly to hear her plead the cause of her people. " Little Indian maiden," he said playfully, " I could think better of this country if it were not for the Black Hole and the Mutiny." Radha puckered her brows prettily, as was her habit when taking up an argument. " Did you ever hear the fable of the Man and the Lion?" she asked. io6 FIRES OF DESIRE " Can't say that I ever did; or at least I do not recall it." " Well, a man and a lion once walked together in a forest. They fell into a war of words trying to prove which had superior strength. Chancing to come upon a marble statue representing a man strangling a lion ' Behold,' cried the man, * that shows which is the stronger.' l Ah/ said the lion, ' a man made the statue. When lions carve statues, you will see the lion shown victorious.' Now, all you know of the history of those affairs was most probably written by the English." " Do you think the true history of 1756 and a century later creditable to your people? " he asked. " Perhaps not very creditable to either side. But there must be some things that would appear in a different light if written from the Indian point of view. I have heard you complain, in talking to Mrs. Clifford about the American Civil War, that she knew it only from the Northern historians." " What, then, can you, as an Indian, suggest on your side of the case? " he questioned. " I should say, first of all, that, like every other war, they were cruel affairs which the people of peaceful Bengal would hate. Then I should like you to keep in mind that they were largely FIRES OF DESIRE 107 conducted by our Mohammedan conquerors, and not by our Hindu people." " So far, so good," said Frank encouragingly. "What next?" " Why, chiefly, that it was only natural for the people to drive their European conquerors from the land if they could. Had they succeeded in gaining and keeping their independence, the world would have applauded. I have heard you say that the difference between an accursed re- bellion, and a laudable revolution is that one fails and the other succeeds." " But the English were surely the benefactors of the country," he urged. " To say nothing of the reforms they have introduced, the Hindu people should be especially grateful to them for removing the Mohammedan yoke." " No one ever wants improvements thrust upon him, especially if they are to improve him or his prerogatives out of existence. That is what the leaders of the people foresaw. It is easier, too, for the people to see the benefits of English rule now than it was a century and a half before those benefits came into existence. As for the Mohammedans," Radha continued, " their power was weakening, and our Hindu kinsmen from the west, the Mahrattas, would certainly have subjugated them in a little while," io8 FIRES OF DESIRE " Would your people like to be rid of England? Do you wish the Mutiny had succeeded? " he asked. She shrugged her shoulders. " As for the old regime," she said, " I remember hearing Father say, a long time ago, that as Charles Lamb some- where suggests, we may be sentimentally inclined to the harmony of those bygone time, but organic- ally incapable of the tune. The wisest men among us believe, as Father did, that it has proved best that the English remained here. But they all long for the day when we shall not need ttieir help." " So you think your people were not bad in 1856?" Frank asked by way of returning to the original discussion. " I think a few Mohammedan leaders were largely responsible for the trouble," Radha said. " Considering how natural it is for a people to desire to be free from a foreign yoke, it is wonder- ful how few of my countrymen rose against the British. Even the prince of the great Mahratta house that England had subdued, did not rebel. At a time when things looked very dark, he marched into Agra with his army to offer his services to the conquerors of his land." Stanton was surprised, though not for the first time, at the girl's information and resources, and FIRES OF DESIRE 109 also at her use of the English language. He did not realize how natural it is for educated Ben- galis to speak ' book English.' They learn no other, and are free from contact with ignorant persons whose slang and inaccuracies corrupt the speech of our people from early childhood. " That's a very fair view of the Mutiny," he ad- mitted. But what of the Black Hole? Think of those one hundred and forty-six poor creatures penned all night in an underground room twenty feet square, and that at the hottest season of the year! It's a marvel to me that even twenty of them got out alive in the morning." " It was horrible," she cried. " I do not like to think about it." But he pressed her to the discussion. " You can surely think of no mitigating circumstances there." " Who built the Black Hole? " she asked after a moment's thought. He confessed that he had never thought to in- quire. " It was the English themselves, and they built it as a prison to punish their own soldiers in. The room was not under ground, but it was a low chamber back under a veranda, where little air or light could get through the small, barred windows. The soldiers themselves called it the no FIRES OF DESIRE Black Hole from the first. It was European bar- barity that made the trap." " But nobody ever tried to put over a hundred soldiers in it," he persisted. " That was at first more of a blunder than a crime. The native guards did not know how small it was. The prisoners themselves did not when they were told to go in." " That should not have prevented the guards from letting them out when they found the pris- oners were suffocating," declared Frank with vigor. Radha smiled on him brightly as she replied " You have not been in the country long enough to know the story they tell to prove the native's inability to take the initiative. There was a young Bengali telegraph operator up the line at a little railway station in the jungle. One eve- ning he went out upon the platform and was horrified to see the stationmaster struggling with a huge tiger. He rushed back to his office and telegraphed to the division superintendent ' Tiger eating stationmaster ; wire instructions.' Now, those guards had been left there to keep the prisoners in and not to let them out. So what could they do? Of course they were cruel, as their descendants were when they butchered everybody in the Mutiny. But how much better FIRES OF DESIRE in were the English when they ruthlessly cut down all rebel Sepoys, even when they threw down their arms and fled, or begged for mercy." " But why should Siraj-ud-Daula have at- tacked Fort William at all? His Emperor wanted the English there for the benefit of their trade." " Oh, yes," said the girl, " but it did not require much statesmanship on the part of the Mogul's Viceroy to see that it would end, as it has, in the English possessing the country. Nor was he without excuse. The traders had harbored a fugitive from justice, and would not give him up. They were enlarging their fortifications without permission. They were likely to bring the French armies upon the country through England's going to war with that people." " In the whole affair, though," he insisted, " did the people of the land show any humanity whatever? " " That they did, and far more than the Eng- lish," Radha replied triumphantly. " Didn't the English leave their position exposed and tempt their foes to attack them, simply because they were too stingy to spend a few rupees in repairs? And when the attack came, didn't the Governor and other leaders flee to the ships in the river and desert the people in the fort? Even some of the Ii2 FIRES OF DESIRE women were left behind. And for two days the cowards lay just down there by Hastings watch- ing their friends' signals of distress, and seeing them destroyed without coming to their aid." The girl's dark eyes were flashing. As Frank watched her admiringly, he asked " Anything else? " " Yes," she answered, " to the credit of my kinsmen. I want you to know that most of those who suffered in the Black Hole were not English at all, but poor people of India who were true to them. And while their friends stayed in comfort on their ships, and let them die, an old native of- ficer tried to help them by passing water into their prison. Then there were kindly natives who fed and sheltered the survivors who were set free and told to leave. There is even a story that a Mohammedan general found some English ladies during the siege, cared for them till night, and took them in a boat out to the ship that had de- serted them and others." " Bravo, little girl ! " cried Frank, applauding. " I think I'll have to admit hereafter, that your people appear in rather a better light than the English, all things considered." Radha felt well repaid for her special pleading by such a verdict. " To end our discussion peaceably," said Stan- FIRES OF DESIRE 113 ton, "please tell me an Oriental tale that will serve as a moral to it all." The girl sat up very straight, and began to sway back and forth in her chair. Then her eyes took on a far-away look. She doubled over like an old woman, and began to speak in a droning voice. " Once there lived a man who had two wives. One was called Little Hair and the other, Less Hair. The husband loved Little Hair rather than Less Hair, and so the woman less beloved had to serve the other. " It happened by accident one day, as the un- loved wife was brushing the other's hair that one lock came out in her hand. i Wretch/ cried the favored one. * You would make me as hideous as yourself ! ' With that she pulled all the hair from the hated wife's head, and drove her away from the house. " Though full of grief for her sad state, the poor woman was kind to every creature she met as she wandered about homeless. At last a holy hermit sent for her and blessed her. And his blessing made her so rich and beautiful that she went back home and became the idol of her hus- band's heart. " When Little Hair saw that she was no longer beloved, she rested not until she had learned the 114 FIRES OF DESIRE name of the hermit who had blessed her rival. Unto him she went and begged of him his bless- ing. ' Go/ cried the monk, ( plunge once into yonder tank, and come again to me/ " Obeying the man's command, she rose from the water to find her head covered with luxuriant hair, and her face very fair. Then she cried, ' Aha ! I will now plunge in again and become twice as beautiful. So shall my husband love me once more, and my hated rival shall serve me.' " But when she came again from the water, her hair was gone, her face was wrinkled, her form was shriveled. With that, came the holy man and drove her with curses away. Thus she lived ever after in her husband's house as the servant of the good and beautiful one who was his de- light." The girl paused and smiled at her listener. " Can you see the moral ? " she asked. " Perhaps," he said cautiously. " But you bet- ter tell it to me, to make sure." "If the great English people ever give them- selves up to cruelty in this land, then will they lose their power and have to serve. So from be- ing the favored ones, they will become the ac- cursed of the earth." She added mysteriously, " I have seen it written in the stars." " A very good moral for the English. Could FIRES OF DESIRE 115 you tell me another oracle that will be for your people? " Frank requested. Again the girl went through the strange mo- tions, and spoke in the monotonous, uncanny tones she had acquired from the old women who had taught her the stories. " Once upon a time an ass and a jackal became friends. On a certain night they broke into a garden and enjoyed a feast together. After a while the ass said to the jackal ' Behold, my dear friend, how fair is the night. Therefore I will sing you a song.' tl The jackal replied ' My dear fellow, why break the stillness of the night? Thieves and lovers should go softly. Moreover, your voice is not suited to song. You will wake the watch- man, and he will come upon us to our destruction. Let us feast.' " i Tut ! Tut ! ' protested the ass. ' You are but a jungley one, and know not the magic of music.' " l True enough,' acknowledged the jackal, { and I fear me your own understanding of the art is faulty.' " ' What, I not know music? ' cried he. And he talked at length in explanation of the theory of harmony. * Now you see that I am familiar with music, why interfere with my singing? ' n6 FIRES OF DESIRE " ' Sing on, then, good friend,' said his com- panion. ( But wait till I get near the gate.' " Thereupon the jackal ran, and the ass began loudly to bray. The watchman waked up and captured him. After soundly beating him, he fastened a heavy drag about his neck. When the man had gone to sleep again, the jackal drew near. " i Uncle,' cried he, * you would break forth in song. Now you are adorned with a jeweled necklace as a reward for your solo.' ' " Well, the application, please," Frank pleaded as Radha paused and looked up. " Whenever the young men of my people will not be content to enjoy the good things they have; whenever those who are now learnedly dis- coursing of the theory of government, insist on showing how well they can displace the British and rule in their stead, then will their rulers come upon them and punish them, and they shall wear a heavy yoke." Again she added with an air of mystery. " So has the god of destiny, the mighty Bidhata-Pur- usha, written it upon their foreheads." FIRES OF DESIRE 117 CHAPTER VII FROM LIGHT TO DARKNESS NEARLY a year had passed since Frank Stan- ton's arrival in Calcutta. He had done good ser- vice, and had made commendable progress with his language study. Richard Clifford had found his help valuable. All who met the young man were charmed by his manly ways. His future was full of promise for a useful career in a land that sorely needed such men. The summer and the rainy season were past. At the beginning of the intense heat, Mrs. Clif- ford had fled to Darjiling with her child. Its lofty summits were beyond the reach of the fur- nace glow of the plains and river valleys. For a part of the summer, Frank had sought the same cool and beautiful retreat, where he rested and continued his study. When the rains broke in Bengal, he had gone down to take charge ef the work, while Clifford joined his wife in the hills. Frank found those steamy months trying enough. n8 FIRES OF DESIRE But in spite of prickly-heat, and enervation, he vigorously prosecuted his work. Radha had remained in the city most of the time. There are few Bengalis who really enjoy the high altitudes of the Himalayas; they find it rather too cool there. She had gone on short visits up the river, and to the favorite resort of wealthy Bengalis at Baidyanath. Attended by her old ayah, and under the nominal protection of her elderly cousin, the girl was free to stay at home or visit friends elsewhere, as she pleased. The latter part of October had now come. The weather in the metropolis was becoming endur- able. Except in the sun, the days were not bad, and the nights were cool. Until the end of the next February, the city would be pleasant, and increasingly gay. In the Mukerji home the fam- ily circle was once more complete. Vacation days were ended, and the season's work was well under way. Even missionaries, however, need to relax oc- casionally in order to prevent break-down. Sun- day was a busy day, but Clifford believed in al- ways taking a Sabbath day's rest some time dur- ing the week, if possible. To get clear away from the cares of life, the whole family usually tried to leave town for the day. At times, they would go by rail up to Serampore, made famous by the FIRES OF DESIRE 119 labors of William Carey, and the college which continues to perpetuate his memory there. On other days they would take one of the small steamers for an excursion up or down the river. Especially did they enjoy the trip up the Hooghly. Leaving in the early morning when the air upon the river was positively chilly in mid- winter, they would go up as far as Chandanagar. That town, with one or two other small patches of territory, is all that remains of France's pos- sessions in India. The banks of the river are lined almost all the way with temples, bathing ghats, and the houses of wealthy natives. Occasionally, great jute factories testify to the presence of the modern forces mingled with the ancient. In the morning, every bathing ghat is full of men and women of all ages, religiously bathing and pray- ing in the sacred stream. They make an odd picture with their thin, scant robes clinging to their wet bodies. After a pleasant morning of sightseeing and light reacting, the party would land at the French town and go up to the ' Thistle.' There they were sure of a good tiffin and a comfortable lounging place on the hotel veranda, until time for the return boat. Or when time or inclination failed for river or railway trips, there were drives and picnics to various places. Dum-Dum, where were made the 120 FIRES OF DESIRE cartridges, greased with suet and lard, that pre- cipitated the terrible Mutiny, was a place of in- terest. It continues as a military establishment where ammunition is manufactured as of yore minus the dangerous lubricant. Up the east bank of the river to Barrackpore, the beautiful sub- urban resort of the Viceroy, is another pleasant drive, though a long one. Walking about in the lordly grounds seems almost like being in Eng- land. In the early days, the homesick Britons banished all palms as reminders of the land of their exile, leaving only such trees as looked like home. Nearer at hand, were the Zoological Gar- dens, down beyond the Maidan on the Alipore Road, which runs out to Belvedere, the handsome mansion of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. Rich in its extensive collection of beasts, birds, and reptiles, beautiful with lakes and flowers and shrubbery, the Zoo is an attractive place to visit. But it was to none of these that the outing party went one bright day that proved big with fate for them all, and especially for Radha and Frank. It had been several weeks since they had been able to get away from the city. They had eagerly looked forward to the holiday. Elaborate preparations had been made the day before, and they were all up bright and early that morning. Soon they were on the road. The Cliffords, FIRES OF DESIRE 121 Raclha and Stanton, were in the family carriage. A thicka ghari, or hired carriage, contained the ayah, to look after the child, the burwachi, to cook the breakfast and tiffin, the khitmutghar, to serve the food for those two important meals, and to look to the four o'clock tea in addition. By such aids they would sustain life between their choti hazri, or early breakfast of tea and toast, and their evening dinner. Upon the flat roof of the cab were boxes and hampers full of food and plates and cooking vessels and charcoal stoves. Such was the outfit for a picnic. It sounds grossly extravagant, of course. But the third- class cab, with two horses and two men, would serve them for a whole day of nine hours for forty cents. And nurse, cook, and waiter were happy to receive for their combined services the gross sum of nine or ten dollars a month. The party, thus equipped and attended, set out for a day at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Their way lay down Cornwallis Street to Harri- son Road, thence to the great floating bridge, and over it to Howrah. Then turning down the west bank of the Hooghly, a four-mile drive along the Sibpur Road took them to the entrance of the Garden. * Royal ' is the proper epithet to apply to that noble garden of almost three hundred acres. 122 FIRES OF DESIRE Since 1786 it has been growing more and more superb. All that love of botany, and skill in prac- tical horticulture could do, with abundance of money at their disposal, has been done. Ferns and flowers, grass and shrubbery, palms and deo- dars, vie with one another in luxuriance. Broad avenues are lined with majestic palms. As the carriage rolls along the smooth drives, the visitor sees beyond the trees the level turf dotted with beds of rare exotic flowers. The three spacious conservatories are almost as attractive without as within. They are not unsightly structures of glass. The genial climate permits the use of a framework of iron, covered with wire netting, which is hidden by delicate vines. These temper the sun by day, and retard the radiation of heat from the soil by night. Within are grottos, and fountains, and wondrous ferns, and exquisite orchids, all in bewildering profusion. The " Botanies " also boast a kingly tree, the monster banyan which has flourished there for more than a hundred years. Its wide-spreading branches, that else would break from their own weight, provide their supports by dropping down aerial roots, which bury themselves in the ground and grow to stout trunks. The noble tree has two hundred and fifty of these, varying from a few inches to twelve feet in circumference. Be- FIRES OF DESIRE 123 sides these, there is the central trunk that is more than forty-two feet in girth. Spreading its leafy boughs abroad on every side, a circle drawn about its branches will measure three hundred yards. It is not surprising that the Hindus regard the banyan with religious veneration. Into this wonderland the happy company drove that peerless morning. Leaving the servants to look after the effects and prepare the food, the party roamed about, drinking in the fragrant air and the enchanting sights. Radha seemed radi- ant with delight as she passed swiftly from one gorgeous group of flowers to another. She looked like some wild, glad bird, and communicated her joy to those who watched and listened to her. 'No unexplored region was the Garden to the girl. She had known every nook and corner of it for years. To the pleasure of seeing again her favorite plants and flowers, was added that of discovering all the new beauties that had been evolved since her last visit. It was like seeing, after the lapse of some time, a dear friend whom the passing of the days had developed into riper beauty, and arrayed in a new costume whose loveliness was enhanced by its unfamiliar nov- elty. Radha's keen appreciation of everything beau- tiful made her seem a part of the tropical splen- 124 FIRES OF DESIRE dor of the place. Her eyes appeared to dilate and her soul to expand until her charming face was transfigured by the meeting of the purity of the soul within and the perfection of color and form of the flowers about her. A voice that was ever soft and low, took on new mellowness, be- coming as sweet as the music of the breeze amid the rustling foliage. " Isn't she perfectly lovely? " whispered Mrs. Clifford to her husband as they watched her. " Superb," he replied. " I am sure that if she ever transmigrates it will be into some tropical plant." They were called back to mundane things by the voice of the khitmutgar announcing break- fast. It was ten o'clock, fully four hours having elapsed since they ate choti hazri, so they were ready for it. On the grass, beneath the shade of a wide-spreading grove, they found the feast pre- pared. A large durrie, or cotton rug, had been laid, with the table-cloth placed in the center of it. Upon the cloth was about the same array of china, glass and silver that would have been used at home. The barwachi had his improvised kitchen not far away, where glowing charcoal in several ungetis cooked the food and kept it warm. Breakfast a trifle more elaborate might have FIRES OF DESIRE 125 been found in some of the European homes that morning in Calcutta. The porridge, for instance, was omitted from theirs. But there were soft boiled eggs, served in pretty little cups and eaten from the shell. Then followed cold roast beef with lettuce salad. After that came the usual curry and rice. It was most unusually good, though, being of tenderest chicken prepared in the milk of fresh cocoanut, served with sweet mangoe chutny, and aided by out-of-door appe- tites. Next there was crisp, brown toast, with the best of orange marmalade. To crown it all, was the fruit secured that very morning by the cook as they had passed the bazars plantains, pomelos, papita. What with bread and butter, bottled mineral waters, and the inevitable tea to supplement all at every stage, no one went away hungry. With such a meal, to be followed at two o'clock by a tiffin scarcely less elaborate, and with the trouble of packing, moving, and preparing it and all the necessary glass, china and silverware, it is no wonder that the servants hardly share their masters' delight in a picnic. The whole thing, with its trouble and expense, strikes the native mind as contrary to common sense. Why should grown men and women, utterly incapable of ac- complishing the Indian feat of sitting easily and 126 FIRES OF DESIRE gracefully on the ground, leave their comfortable houses for so extraordinary a performance? Reason is incapable of an answer to the question. Hence the native calls a picnic a l mad dinner.' ! Hunger being satisfied, they took their durrie and cushions and made themselves comfortable in a shady nook. Mr. Clifford read to them a story in which all were interested. Thus with reading and chatting, accompanied by needlework on the part of the ladies, the day sped on to tiffin. The meal ended, Mrs. Clifford undertook to read her husband to sleep. Frank and Radha wandered off together to see the banyan tree, and the con- servatories. " Do you know," said the girl, " that great tree became cruel to the mother who nursed it, and un- gratefully destroyed her." " How do you mean ? " asked Frank. "Why, there once stood here a wild date- palm," replied Radha, " and the seed of a banyan tree lodged in its branches. Soon it began to grow, and draw its life from the sap of the palm tree. Year after year it became larger, gradually dropping its long roots down and imbedding them in the earth. Little by little, the life was drawn from the tree that nursed it; more and more was the foster mother overshadowed. At last the palm died, and now no trace of it remains." FIRES OF DESIRE 127 " Hard-hearted son," said Frank. " What a pity the date tree mothered it." " But think how grand it has grown," she made answer. " Was it not glory enough for the poor palm to help such a life? What better is there for a woman to do than gladly to give her life for the sons or husband whom she loves? " "Ay, but not if they are to be so base as to destroy her for their own gratification," he moral- ized. " No," she said, " not if it makes them base. But if that evil deed makes them hate all wicked- ness afterwards, when they see what they have done, then it is best. The good God can make even evil to help Him in developing men. Its es- sence must be nothing, or it must in reality be a good. See, this grand tree is beautiful to look upon ; its shade is grateful to men ; it is a sacred tree. Ah, I am sure that the spirit of the poor date-palm is glad its life and death gave to the world this noble life. I long to do as much with my life." This bit of Oriental mysticism and self-efface- ment puzzled the young man. With his ignor- ance of the deepest meanings of life, and with his Western ' will to live,' he could not understand. Yet there came a day in which his chastened 128 FIRES OF DESIRE spirit looked back through the mist of tears and the vista of the years, and read the mystery. While strolling off to the conservatories, they came upon a heap of large calendula blossoms, that had for some reason been rooted out and piled up for removal. " Look," cried Radha, " how I wish we might gather the flowers and weave them into gar- lands." Frank called to a babu overseeing some work- men near by, and learned that they might have the blossoms. Thereupon they gathered all they could carry, and took them along to the nearest conservatory. They soon found a comfortable rustic seat among the palms and ferns, and sat down to weave their garlands. Frank did the work very well after a little direction from Radha. She chattered away like a happy child as she bent over her task. There were so many things to tell of the various ways in which the Hindus use garlands of flowers in their worship, and at all social festivities. " In the ancient laws of my people," she said, " provision is made for marriage by exchange of garlands. Then, as in your country now, men and maidens could freely meet together. There were other rites of marriage even at that time where the fathers arranged everything to suit the FIRES OF DESIRE 129 convenience of the families, but this one seems to me most beautiful and sacred." " What was the nature of the ceremony? " Frank enquired. " The law says ' The union of a lover with a loving damsel is called the rite of the Gand- harvas.' And after speaking of all the other rites, it adds ' Some recommend the Gandharva rite for all castes, because it is based on mutual af- fection.' " " I didn't suppose there was anything so civil- ized in your old laws," the man said uncompli- mentarily. " This was in the oldest of our laws ; much before the time of Manu," she explained. " What made me recall it is what I think the sweetest part of the ceremony. If the lovers decided to marry, they could do so without the aid of priests or others, simply by repeating some muntras and exchanging garlands. " That was romantic, sure enough," said Frank. " Here, our garlands are done could you show me how the rite was performed? " The girl rather shrank away from him, and her face flushed. He noticed only her hesitation. " Come," he urged, " let us perform the cere- mony." " If you really wish it, I will," she said slowly. 130 FIRES OF DESIRE " I certainly do wish it, very much," he in- sisted. Then they stood in their bower of green, facing each other. About their feet were the yellow blossoms that had fallen while they had worked. Kadha taught him the Sanskrit muntra that he was to repeat. They hung their garlands about each other's necks. Then they clasped hands and each said the appointed verse. " That is all," said the girl. " So, according to the most sacred laws of the ancient Aryas, we have been made one?." he asked playfully. " Yes," she answered. Intent only upon the ceremony, and what he considered its mock performance, he had noticed neither the girl's embarrassment, nor the strange light that shone in her eyes. " It is a very pretty ceremony," said Stanton. " Yes," replied Kadha, " and very sweet and sacred to me." They resumed their seat and remained silent for a while. High up in a grotto before them a minature fountain was tossing its spray into the perfumed air. From its basin a tiny stream over- flowed and fell in a musical cascade down over the mossy stones. In the little pool at the base of the grotto many gold fishes were swimming FIRES OF DESIRE 131 gracefully about. Upon the vine-clad roof of the bower a song bird was pouring forth its joyous notes into the balmy air. " Will you not tell me an Indian love story? " Stanton asked at last. " This is surely the time and place for it." Thus roused from her dreamy revery, Radha reflected for a few moments and then began her story. " In the long ago there lived in this land a king and his two childless wives. Great was their sorrow that no son gladdened their home. Most earnestly did each wife desire to be the happy mother of a prince. While matters stood thus with them, there chanced to come to the palace one day a most holy mendicant. Through her gentle kindness to the holy man, the younger queen won his favor. When leaving the palace, he called her aside and told her that within the year the desire of her heart should be realized in the birth of a son. " * But,' said the Yogi, ' the secret source of his life will be hidden in a great fish that swims in the tank before your home. In the heart of that fish in an ivory box ; within that box is a necklace of pearls, and that necklace is the life of your son.' " Even as the holy man had promised, there 132 FIRES OF DESIRE came a happy day when the king's heart was made glad by the birth of a son. Great was the rejoicing throughout the palace and in all the kingdom. But the soul of the elder queen was filled with bitterest envy. She pined neglected, whilst the king had delight in the mother of his h'eir alone. So she hated him; and as he grew, she hated him the more. " Most heartily did the elder queen long for the destruction of the child. At last, when he was twelve years old, to her great delight, she learned the secret of his life. Pretending to be very ill, the jealous woman bribed the court physician to tell the king her life could be saved only by an application prepared from the heart of the great fish in the palace lake. Then the king ordered that the fish be captured. When the fish was taken in the net, the prince sickened; when it was brought to land, he swooned; when it died, he gasped out his life. The fish was cut open and its heart taken to the wicked woman. In high glee she got possession of the ivory box with its necklace of pearls. The king, however, was distraught. He would not have the body of his son burned, but laid him in a rustic house in a beautiful garden in the out- skirts of the royal city. There he ordered his servants to place food by the side of the prince every day, just as though he needed it. FIRES OF DESIRE 133 " After a time the grief of the king was some- what assuaged. But the mother of the boy re- mained plunged in the deepest sorrow. Therefore the king soon began to pass his nights in company with the elder queen. Every day she wore the necklace that held magic power over the life of the prince. But when the king came to her at night, she laid aside the ornament. So, every day the young prince lay cold in death ; but at night 'He awoke to life, refreshed himself with the food that he found, and walked about the garden, en- joying its fragrance. " A devoted friend whose love often led him to visit the house where the prince lay, noticed that death left no mark upon the fair body. Setting himself to watch, he saw his friend come to life. From him he learned that power over the prince's life resided in the necklace in the hands of the treacherous queen. Together they consulted how to gain possession of the magic jewel and break the spell that held the youth in thrall. " It had chanced some years before that a lovely girl had been born in a distant part of the kingdom. Of her it had been prophesied that she would marry a dead groom. When the child approached the age of nubility, the distressed mother fled with her to try to save her from so sad a fate. In their flight, they came to a beauti- 134 FIRES OF DESIRE ful garden. There the woman left the girl in the shade of the trees whilst she went into the city to buy food. Left to herself, the girl wandered through the garden until she came upon a rustic house. Seeing the door open, she entered in. Just after she crossed the threshold a strong wind blew shut the door, and she could by no means open it. When the mother returned and found not her daughter, she went away sorrow- fully seeking her. " The girl soon discovered that the house con- tained a handsome lad, lying wrapped in appar- ent sleep. Thereupon she withdrew again to the door, lest she should arouse him and incur his displeasure. In the evening the prince suddenly sat up and looked about him. Finding the girl there, he heard with interest the story of her life. Having learned of the prophecy concerning her nuptials, he was greatly delighted. " ' You must straightway take me as your husband,' he declared, ' In good time you will learn that I am the one for whom you are des- tined.' " Then and there, in accordance with the an- cient laws of their country, they became bride and groom by an exchange of garlands. Later, came the prince's friend, and they all rejoiced and feasted together. Finally, he left them, and after FIRES OF DESIRE 135 many hours they fell into happy slumber. When the bride awoke she was crazed to find her hus- band cold and still. She shook him, and with kisses and embraces sought to awake him, but all in vain. So all day long she wandered about the house and garden as one mad. " At night the prince again revived. He com- forted his wife and explained to her the sad mys- tery of his life. In such wise years passed while they were planning deliverance. Two beautiful children, a boy and a girl, were born in that time. At length, with plans all formed, the princess, disguised as a female barber, went to the palace with her children. She applied at the door for work to dress the hair, pare the nails, remove the thickened skin from the soles of the feet, or to stain the edges of the hands and feet of the ladies of the palace. The would-be barber saw her mother-in-law, who yet kept up her mourning, and needed no barber; but the other queen em- ployed her. " Whilst the mother worked, her little boy be- gan to tease the wicked woman for the necklace that she wore. At last, through much pretty coaxing and pouting, he got it. The queen being interested in her toilet, the little boy ran un- noticed away. Great was the pretended grief of the barber when it was noticed what her child 136 FIRES OF DESIRE had done. But the queen, being sure that her 1 , rival's son must long since have died, did not much care. So the barber went away with the promise that the necklace should be returned to the palace. " There was great joy that night at the house in the garden. The prince now had possession of the magic power over his life, and could at last return to his home. Next morning, the friend brought an elephant for the prince, ponies for the children, and a palanquin for the prin- cess. Thus they all went into the presence of the king. With wild rejoicing he and the younger queen received them. When their strange story had been heard, the old queen fell a victim to the king's rage. He caused to be dug a deep pit, into which he put her. Then he had it filled with thorns and the earth heaped upon her. As for the king and the good queen, they lived in happi- ness many years, whilst the prince and princess had many children and grandchildren to bless them." " Thank you," said Frank, as the tale ended. " You must tell me more stories some day. It is now time to join the others at tea, and then we'll be starting home. Let us go." 11 What is the meaning of those festal gar- lands? " Mrs. Clifford called to them as the young people approached. FIRES OF DESIRE 137 " Oh," said Stanton, " there has been an im- portant ceremony according to the most sacred laws of the ancients. Radha and I have just been married by exchange of garlands. Congratula- tions are in order." Mrs. Clifford was not very observant in such matters, but she could see that the girl was em- barrassed, while Frank evidently considered whatever had happened as mere sport. " I wish you'd go see whether the khit is getting tea ready," she said to them to change the sub- ject " Richard," said she, addressing her husband when they were gone, " I wonder whether it is safe for Radha to be with Mr. Stanton so much. He seems to regard her merely as a child, but I fear she may come to love him." " I am sure I don't know," he responded, " I must leave such matters to you. Only be careful that no harm befalls the little girl." When tea was over they started for home, all declaring that it had been a most delightful day. After dinner that night the Cliffords went down town to a lecture at the Dalhousie Insti- tute. Frank and Radha were in the library alone. He was trying to study, but with poor success. The wine of the day's pleasure was in his blood. At last he threw his books aside and turned to his companion. 138 FIRES OF DESIRE. " Radha," he said. " I have never seen you in your native costume and jewels your Indian ' full dress.' Won't you dress for me to-night, just to finish up this good day." " I will if you wish it," she replied, and went at once to do so. She passed from the library to the music room beyond, and thence to her own apartment. Left alone, the young man was soon driven to ask himself why he had made the request of the girl. He had seen no ladies in purely native cos- tume, but he knew it differed from that of the poorer women on the streets only in its richness. Was it possible that he, Frank Stanton, minister and missionary, wanted Radha to appear before him in that dress simply that he might behold the charms of the beautiful form which he knew would thus be revealed? Facing the question thus, his soul took fright. He sought to prove to himself that he was moved only by a desire such as impelled him to inquire into all the customs of the land. But while he so reasoned, he felt surging up within him, passions whose power he had never before experienced. The man fell upon his knees and cried unto his God for help. It was no doubt near, but he did not reach it. Drifting with the current is pleas- ant. Help is far away, and it is difficult to be May I come? asked the voice." FIRES OF DESIRE 139 clear-headed enough to do the wisest thing when the noise of the cataract is in one's ears, and the cloud of rainbow-tinted spray rising before one's eyes is the flaunting of death's banner. " Do not let her come to you," seemed the clear response to the cry for help. But immediately a low voice came to him from beyond the curtained door of the music room. " May I come? " asked the voice. " Come," he cried with a sternness born of the fierce conflict raging within him. Radha had entered the room even while she called to him. There was that in the sound of his voice which made her pause. Then she saw Stanton on his knees, though he had straightened up to look at her. The vision he saw caused his good genius to flee. From his sight there faded away the faces of his Divine Master, his Mother, and Mabel. His soul had taken fright too late. In the shaded light of the reading lamp upon the table by him he was in comparative shadow. Where the girl stood at the other end of the long room, a blaze of light shone behind her and upon her. She was clad in a sari, the single, simple garment of the women of India. In the prevail- ing fashion of the zenanas, the material was of the thinnest gauze. In color, it was palest green, with a wonderful, silvery sheen in the light, and HO FIRES OF DESIRE bordered all around with gold. Wound in the most graceful folds about the girl's body, and even over her head, it both concealed and revealed the perfect lines and curves of her beautiful body. Her little feet, uncramped by any long familiarity with European shoes, were bare. Upon her shapely ankles were tinkling anklets. About her wrists were jeweled bracelets, and on her upper arms, heavy golden armlets. Encircling her throat was a necklace of pearls, whilst around her neck and low upon her breast, was a chain of gold with wide and massy links. Dark as mid- night, her hair hung loose and reached far below her waist; across her brow a diamond chaplet shone. The young man thrust out one foot before him and held out his arms, remaining upon one knee. He had passed from supplication to adoration. When he called her to him, the girl raised her head and smiled. Then the end of her sari that had been drawn over her head fell back, revealing more fully her exquisite neck and arms and bosom. She stretched out both her hands to meet the inviting arms of the man, and went to him with a childlike grace. He drew her down upon his knee. Radha manifested no self-consciousness. Why should she? The costume was not strange to her. FIRES OF DESIRE 141 It was such as all her fellow-countrywomen daily wore in their homes, and upon the street, too, if they went there. Such had always been her house dress in the old days with her father. The jewels and the sari had been her mother's, long ago. As for the man to whom she went he had come to be the lord of her life. With all the pas- sion of her tropical nature, she loved him. More- over had they not that very day plighted their troth in the sacred language of her ancient people, and been made one by the power of the venerated laws of the Aryas? He had declared that he wanted the ceremony performed, and had told their friends what had happened among the ferns. If that ceremony had never taken place, it is doubtful whether she would have denied Stanton any wish. She had descended from a people who had believed for untold centuries that it is the glory of women to yield to men. All the women of the country did the will of fathers and husbands. With ceremonies not so meaningful as Radha had taken part in that day, all the girls she had known in childhood had long since yielded them- selves to men chosen by their fathers, and unseen by themselves before the wedding night. The girl had followed the promptings of her heart, and the laws that her father had so often declared 142 FIRES OF DESIRE superior to any modern Hindu codes. To her idol she would give herself as gladly, and with as little thought as would the flower turn its face to the morning sun. What were the half under- stood restrictions of the new life she had recently entered, when compared with the potent powers of heredity, and environment, and early habits, and all-controlling desire? " You are most beautiful," murmured the young man. Then he quoted a line from the Gita Govinda that came to his mind " ' Beautiful Radha, jasmine-bosomed Radha.' ' He arose with her in his arms and lightly car- ried her to a divan. The room was full of melody, for, with the born artist's appreciation of detail, the girl had started a music box to playing as she came through the outer room. One of Men- delssohn's ' Songs without Words ' was being rendered by the superb instrument. The music was felt rather than heard. " I can now appreciate the language in which your poets sing the charms of their ladies," said Stanton, as he sat beside the girl who reclined among the cushions of the divan. He spoke to her in the language of a tropical imagination. Nor seemed the words strange to the child of India. It thrilled her soul through and through to hear such expressions from her beloved, FIRES OF DESIRE. 143 " Thy brows are as a huntsman's bended bow. Soft as a wounded gazelle's though thine eyes be, yet they smite the heart as do a huntsman's pierc- ing darts. Like a lotus flower is thy face; red as the bima berry are thy lips, through whose parted curves show teeth of white jasmine. Thy skin is soft as petals of most delicate flowers." Then he fell to examining her jewels. The sari was pushed aside that he might the better see the curiously wrought chain lying against the beauti- ful outward curve of her bosom. " What makes the anklets tinkle, and however are they got on? " Yes, he could see while she explained, and he noticed that the shapely foot was scarcely so long as his hand. " But the sari how can that long piece of thin cloth possibly be kept in place, without but- ton, hook, clasp or pin? " So she showed him how it must be drawn tightly about the con- tracted waist, and folded back and forth upon it- self in front, and neatly tucked where it is held securely in place when the waist is permitted to relax again. And the long end, left from fashion- ing the lower garment, is wound about the should- ers and thrown over the head. Thus the moments slipped away. The music played on. They talked in subdued tones, while 144 FIRES OF DESIRE he sat bending over her where she lay. No pic- ture could have been more charming and sacred, had it meant all to the man that it did to the maid. The whispered words of admiration, the toying with the jewels, the touch whose thrill was more subtle than electricity was it the playing of a cat with a mouse soon to be destroyed? Or was it the struggle of a drowning man catching at every straw to delay his sinking? It could matter but little in the end. That night two frail human barques were borne by the tide of passion out upon the sea of folly. The helmsman who sat at the rudder of the one was Love, and he was blind withal. The pilot to guide the other was Lust, and he, alas, was drunk with the wine of desire. And the treacherous rocks which that sea concealed were many and cruel, so cruel. FIRES OF DESIRE 145 CHAPTER VIII THE DARKNESS DEEPENS THE plague had reached Calcutta. When it began its ravages in Bombay, and then spread to other places, the leading priests of the metropolis had confidently declared that it would not come there. Did not the sacred current of the Ganges flow past the city? Had not the unbelieving white man learned at Benares, even by means of his infidel science, that Mother Gunga destroys the germs of disease that are said to pollute her holy waters? The plague could not work in Cal- cutta. When the passing months did not bring the scourge, notwithstanding all the filth of the city, and its intercourse with infected districts, the words of the priests seemed confirmed. The great river claimed a new reverence from the faithful. Then learned white men felt called upon to give a rational explanation of the city's exemption. They concluded that an alluvial soil, such as was found along the river's course, was 146 FIRES OF DESIRE not favorable to the growth of bubonic plague. Pious Hindus laughed quietly over such theories. Well did they know that it was Mother Gunga's blessing upon her loving children. At length, there came a day when it was whis- pered about that in Bura Bazar and other places, dead rats were being found in great numbers. There might be a meaning to that. So had it hap- pened in Bombay before people began to die in great numbers too. A few days later, the native population was panic-stricken and in flight. The plague had begun its swift and deadly work. Business was paralyzed. There were no carts or carriages upon the streets. The roads from town were blocked with fugitives, carrying their poor possessions with them, and fleeing for life. In every direction, they spread themselves out over the country, bearing with them the germs of the dread disease; leaving the dying and the dead lying along the road. In the city, hundreds of wretched creatures were perishing. The dead were carried forth in processions; the mourners went about the streets. The faith of the faithful had not saved them, nor had the science of the scientist averted destruction. It was not many days, however, until the fugi- tives began to return. Things were rather worse than better in the city, but there was no way for FIRES OF DESIRE 147 the multitudes to sustain themselves elsewhere. They would settle down in dumb misery to take this new ill as a matter of course. So their kins- men had done in Bombay. The story would re- peat itself in many other places in the course of the dark years. Always there would be the mad panic at the first coming of the plague. Then there would be resignation to this new stroke of fate that merely added another to the long list of deadly foes poisonous reptiles, wild beasts, famine, smallpox, cholera, fevers! Mysterious beings are the mighty gods ; there is nothing bet- ter for a man to do than to submit himself to the decrees of fate all the days of his life of vanity. In the Mukerji mansion there had been some consternation wrought by the advent of the plague. In the first place, the servants had all deserted. India is far from being exempt from the inconveniences of the servant problem. After they returned from the stampede, or were re- placed by others, another cloud arose. The ayah who cared for little Bernice Clifford had gone to her home, as usual, one night, and had not re- turned the next morning. Mrs. Clifford heard the second day that the woman was ill. The follow- ing morning she was asking another servant how the ayah was getting along, when she was inter- rupted by a sudden cry from the man. 148 FIRES OF DESIRE " Ah, Mem Sahib, may the gods be merciful, but there they are carrying her forth to the burn- ing now ! " The ayah had died of plague that morning, just three days after she had been caring for Mrs. Clif- ford's little girl. It was not strange that the mother should take fright. A family council de- cided that mother and child should leave the city for a time. So they went to visit some American friends at a pleasant little station in Orissa. Frank Stanton had left Calcutta too. He was preparing for his examination in Bengali. There had been some talk about his getting away into the country where he would hear only the verna- cular, and so perfect himself more fully in the language. After that fateful day in the Botanical Garden, he had manifested great anxiety to get away. Kichard Clifford could ill spare him. But the language study was regarded as of chief im- portance just then. Besides, the young man had seemed troubled and almost sick of late. When an opportunity came for him to go to an out of the way station with a veteran missionary, it was thought best for him to avail of it. The old, happy days of his life in Calcutta were gone forever. He carried the memory and burden of a great sin in his heart. It was harder to bear because it stood alone in his history. No vestal FIRES OF DESIRE 149 virgin had ever been purer in thought and deed than his life had been. He was in a maze of moral confusion, and knew not how to adjust himself to the new conditions of his existence. Kadha seemed unchanged, but he found it impossible to meet her as formerly. He felt that he simply must get away and think. At the parting, a new vision of the girl's soul had been revealed to him. She had appeared vaguely conscious, for some days, that all was not well with the man she loved. But he might be bothered by the approaching examination, or possibly he was not well. She thought he must be overworked, too, he seemed so busy, and to have far less time to be with her than formerly. They were alone when he was leaving the house. He was going from Sealdah station by the night train on the East Bengal Railway. Her face was drawn with the pain of parting, and her eyes were misty with unshed tears. She crept close to his side, and he did not try to put her away. " You will not forget the day in the Garden, and the Gandharva rite, and the garlands," she said wistfully, half questioningly. " No," he had replied. God in heaven ! What would he not give to be able to forget that day? No, he would not forget it, there was no risk in such a promise. 150 FIRES OF DESIRE Then he stooped and kissed the upturned lips. That was not to gratify himself, but to please her. The lingering love-light in her eyes made him somehow think of the last caressing notes of some plaintive melody by the hands of a master mu- sician. Or was it the upreaching of a quivering flower towards the sun, that he seemed to behold? Whatever it was, the transfigured face in its halo of love smote through the man's soul until he groaned aloud as he left the house. During all the after years of his life, the thought of Radha always brought before him the parting vision of that night. With the passing of the weeks of the cool sea- son, the plague grew worse. It was alarmingly prevalent when Mrs. Clifford's sister, Dr. Esther Emmett, came to the city for medical and other supplies for her station. She found Kadha lonely and depressed. " My dear," said Miss Emmett, you must go home with me. Calcutta never was fit for a hu- man being to live in, and it's worse than ever now. You have no business here alone in this great house, anyway." Dr. Esther was a young woman of decided opin- ions and positive statements. Like most up- country people, she had very strong views about the unfitness of Calcutta for mortal habitation. FIRES OF DESIRE 151 " Why, child," she cried to the protesting Radha, " this city is one mass of germs. I was reading in a medical journal just the other day of a German scientist who has discovered there are twelve million bacteria on the skins of half a pound of cherries. Now just try to think how many germs that is, and then remember it's on cherries in Germany, and not on Hindus in India. What, then, must be the appalling num- ber of microbes in Calcutta, carried about on the skin of every filthy rascal here ! Ugh ! " Whether frightened by the vision of the in- numerable company of animalculi thus conjured up, or induced by other reasons, Radha yielded to her friend's entreaties. It would be a pleasant change, and would help while away the time till Frank's return. When Esther Emmett took her place in the ladies' compartment of a Bengal and Nagpur Railway carriage, bound for her home at Mungal- pore, in the Central Provinces, the pretty Bengali girl was with her. Radha could not have told why, but she felt that this journey of eight hun- dred miles was to carry her a long way from all that she loved most. She had gone with many flowers to her father's grave, and spent the whole morning there. Then she lingered lovingly about every spot in the house and garden that was 152 FIRES OF DESIRE fraught with especially tender memories of by- gone days. It was a tearful little face that hid itself behind her sari as the long train pulled out of Howrah station and bore Radha away from Calcutta. Mungalpore was a place of about ten thousand inhabitants. For its size, it did almost as well in the way of dirt as the metropolis. But the pleas- ant mission bungalows stood quite apart from the town in their own broad compounds. Dr. Emmett's quarters were at some distance from the others, near her hospital. However, she al- ways went over to the Ladies' Bungalow for her meals. The place was quiet, and the air quite dif- ferent from that of the capital. The various workers gave Radha a cordial welcome. Change of scene and bright companions of her own sex, visibly improved the girl. The days passed pleas- antly, with nothing to mar their peace. It was dinner-time at the Ladies' Bungalow one evening a few weeks later. Darkness had not yet fallen, for the good ladies lived rather simply, and dined earlier than their city friends. Dr. Emmett was late, as usual. But Radha was there, and they had decided not to wait for the Doctor. Miss Best, the elderly lady of the company, was as prompt as she was prim. She never could quite see why Esther had to be late. In fact, many of FIRES OF DESIRE 153 the Doctor's ways were past finding out, so far as she was concerned. She could not fathom their mystery. The two women differed widely in taste and in age. Miss Best had the faculty of provoking to activity all the spirit of perverseness in Esther Emmett. Under the most favorable circum- stances, nothing better than armed neutrality existed between them. Miss Hammond and Miss Pierce, the other two ladies, were as young and as fun loving as the Doctor. But they never ventured to wage war on their exacting senior companion. All the more, on that account, did they enjoy the frequent tilts between her and the Doctor. Just after the removal of the soup plates, the orderly quiet of the room was disturbed by Es- ther's rather cyclonic entrance. " Oh, but I am simply ravenous," she cried. " I am sure I can eat everything you have. Where is the menu, that I may make it my table of con- tents? " Had glances been able to pierce, it is certain that Miss Best's would have looked a hole through the young woman, then and there. But before anything could be said, the Doctor was in her place, with head demurely bowed in thanks- giving. Such was the custom for all not on time 154 FIRES OF DESIRE to be included in the general grace. After what she considered a proper pause, perhaps to let the prayer get well beyond the reach of any tempest that might otherwise blow it out of its upward course, Miss Best felt moved to make certain re- marks. When she chose to exercise her gifts upon tardiness and boisterousness, in general, and the incarnation of those vices in Esther Em- mett, in particular, she could speak at consider- able length. " You know, my dear," she said, by way of a conclusion to her long exhortation, " Shakes- peare says that softness, gentleness, and lowness are ever an excellent thing in the voice of woman. And," with the upward look that befits pious reflections, " a greater Book tells of ' the orna- ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.' ' Having better use for her mouth just then, the Doctor did not interrupt or reply. She contented herself with a grimace. Meanwhile, the twilight shadows were falling. When Miss Best was ready to resume her dinner again, she found it difficult to see. " Ram Chunder," she called sharply to a serv- ant, " light the lamps at once. It is so dark here that we can't find the way to our mouths." " Keally, Miss Best, if you would just listen for FIRES OF DESIRE 155 a moment, I am sure you'd find where your mouth is." The Doctor had paused long enough to hurl this bomb into the enemy's camp. The other ladies involuntarily laughed outright at this sally. Miss Best held her head high in the air, and relapsed into grim silence. A few moments later Miss Emmett had reached the lighter courses of her dinner, and was ready to relieve the tension by more amicable remarks. She had recalled an important bit of news re- ceived that day in a letter. " Girls," she suddenly broke out, " you can't guess who is going to be married." "Oh, who? who?" cried the two young ladies and Radha in concert. Even Miss Best thawed a little. Affairs of the heart are of perennial in- terest to women, and news was scarce at Mungal- pore. " You must guess," responded the provoking Doctor. " Why you, of course," said Miss Hammond. " No danger," declared Esther emphatically. " I shall remain an unplucked blossom upon my ancestral tree." The elderly lady made an inarticulate sound, which perhaps signified her conviction that such would inevitably be Esther Emmett's fate. 156 FIRES OF DESIRE " Then it's Jennie Pierce," cried Miss Ham- mond, turning towards that young lady. " Now the idea of such a thing, when there are so many pretty girls around." Miss Pierce was the youngest and prettiest of the missionaries, and sometimes ventured a remark that might lead to her being told about it. " Jennie Pierce," said the Doctor, solemnly shaking her finger at the girl until she blushed. " The utterly shameless way that some people go fishing! " " We can't guess; you must tell us," they both insisted. " I'll help you then," Esther said. " It is a young man whom you all know." "Is he in India?" asked Miss Hammond. " Yes, he is in India." That simplified the problem, for there were few young men in India known to them all. After one or two wild guesses, the right man was hit upon. " Oh, I know," exclaimed Jennie Pierce, " it's that handsome Frank Stanton in Calcutta." " Why, certainly," assented the Doctor. " You would have guessed it long ago if each of you had not been secretly harboring the hope that he would ask one of you to help him get married." A hunted look had come into Kadha's eyes. FIRES OF DESIRE 157 What did it mean? Were they joking? Or was Frank planning some ceremony in addition to the exchange of garlands? Yes, that must be it; she had been stupid not to know before that he would think it necessary to do so. " When is it to be? Who is the lady? Where's it to take place?" The girls were plying the Doctor with eager questions. "One at a time; one at a time," entreated Esther, stopping her ears. Then she took a letter from the bosom of her blouse and opened it with exasperating deliberation. Kadha recognized the writing. " My sister has just got the news, and written to me about it," she told them. " It's to be in Calcutta. About two months from now it is to take place. The favored fair one is a certain Mabel Everest, from Kentucky." A smothered cry came from Kadha's lips. Her face was ashen when they looked at her. She arose from 'her chair in a bewildered way, steadied herself a moment, took a step forward, and sank down in a heap upon the floor. Instantly, Esther Emmett was transformed from a playful retailer of news into a skilful pro- fessional woman. The limp form was laid upon a couch, and restoratives applied. After a long time, a tremulous sigh escaped the girl's lips, and 158 FIRES OF DESIRE she opened her eyes. But she evidently recog- nized no one, and soon sank into a stupor. As the ladies looked into each other's eyes over the piti- ful little figure, they saw that the thought of one was the thought of all. The beautiful Bengali girl had evidently learned to love the gifted young stranger who had found shelter in her home. Doctor Emmett decided it would be best to take Kadha over to her bungalow. It would be quieter there, and the patient could the more easily be cared for. So they placed her on a cot, and two servants carried her over to the other house. There the medical skill that had so often done battle with disease in the darkened huts of the natives, and all up and down the line in the houses of the railway people, set itself to save the life of the sorely-stricken girl. When two anxious days had passed, Radha came out of her heavy stupor. Then she began to rave, and to try to destroy herself. It seemed that all the mad jealousy of her hot-blooded race had concentrated itself in that one small body. Sometimes it was Frank Stanton against whom she wildly raved. Then she would turn her fury upon the rival who had stolen her lover's heart from her. Again, she would cry out in agony to her friends not to torment her any longer, but to tell her the letter was a cruel joke. FIRES OF DESIRE 159 Esther Emmett's heart bled for the poor girl as she watched and worked with her day and night. Usually Radha's ravings were in Bengali. The doctor's station was in the Hindi language area; hence she could only imperfectly under- stand what was said. But little by little, what with hearing broken sentences in English, and what with recognizing Bengali words that re- sembled the Hindi, the Doctor was able to make out the whole pitiable story. Frank Stanton's dark secret was no longer locked in his own breast. 160 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTEE IX AMONG THE RUINS FRANK STANTON had returned to Calcutta as soon as he learned of Radha's departure. He could not study anywhere. His sleep was troubled and feverish. Active work alone af- forded a little relief. He was a haunted man. As he sat by the library table he looked bent and old and ill. The man was no confirmed evil-doer with a con- science drugged. Upon the whiteness of a pure life he bore the black blot of a single great sin. Day and night it stared him in the face. Night and day he felt that the wrath of God was upon him. Following the habit of his life, he had con- tinued to pray morning and night. But he had the consciousness of his petitions falling back as an added burden to his soul. There came to his mind some lines he had seen long before ' Sorrow tracketh wrong As echo follows song, On! On! On! On!' FIRES OF DESIRE 161 Upon every page he sought to read, the words came out. They swam before his eyes over the heads of the people he addressed in his meetings. They became letters of flame in the darkness of his room at night. From infancy the man had been kept from the breath of pollution. The protecting presence of his mother had been about him almost to the moment that he had set out for India. Into the wild ways of some of the lads at college he had never fallen. Womanhood he had always rever- enced, knowing it scarcely at all except in his mother and his betrothed. How, then, did it hap- pen that he had gone down before the blast of a single great temptation? His had been largely an untried virtue. There had not been the struggle with temptation that would have made his soul vigorous. In such con- dition he suddenly came upon new and trying experiences. Lonely and far from home, he found himself daily with a beautiful girl. Never hav- ing known familiar intercourse, even with a sister hitherto, his life in Calcutta threw him daily with one who seemed at first a child, but proved to be a woman, with all the subtle, attractive powers of womanhood for manhood. His blood, too, was heated by a sudden plunge into the tropics. Moreover, he daily saw in the city about him 162 FIRES OF DESIRE sights so unaccustomed as to compel attention. To the people of the land it meant nothing that the streets were full of children altogether with- out clothing, and beautifully formed women scantily covered with the thinnest of clinging robes. The people of India had never known any- thing else, and there is no necessary connection between clothing and morality, except that the clothing, or its absence, must be such as not to attract attention by being out of the ordinary. But to the young American the sights of the city were strange, and thereby they became fuel for the flames of passion. He was to learn that back of the young minister and missionary was the young man, the strength of whose natural de- sires had not been suspected, because they had never -tugged with all their force at the cords holding them in leash. A worse man might have escaped that particu- lar pitfall. One whose knowledge was of evil as well as good, could not have come right upon it without knowing it was there. The wretched beings who regularly consort with womanhood' at its worst would have known from the first what was the danger of any confiding girl about them. Some others, who daily breathe in impurity as the opium smoker does the fumes of his narcotic, might also have escaped stopping short of put- FIRES OF DESIRE 163 ting into action a single one of their erotic dreams. As a man may, by little and by little, become able to take at a dose a quantity of poison sufficient to kill a score of men, and yet live, so such creatures preserve some outward semblance of moral life whilst their minds and hearts are full of thoughts of which a single one might totally destroy a man of purity. It is conceivable that such a one might have walked without fall- ing where Stanton did, wantoning in look and thought of subtlest evil. Should a man, then, be inoculated with the virus of vice to prevent his death by the disease of sin? God forbid! Would it be wise to develop a race of opium-eaters to avoid the danger of having a man killed, now and then, by an acci- dental overdose of the drug? Far better for the man and his friends that he take the overdose at once, and die outright, than to drag through miserable years the ever-lengthening chain of slavery worse than death. Dreadful as were the consequences of Frank Stanton's sin, to himself and to others, it was better than though he had hitherto lived a life of defilement. He knew that his sin was grievous; there was a chance that he might yet live. There is hope for a tree that it may sprout again from the roots and become a monarch of the forest, if it is suddenly cut down. 164 FIRES OF DESIRE But to girdle it about with a deep wound and leave it standing that is to have it perish root and branch, though it linger long between death and life. At that time, however, Stanton was groping in the dark. It was yet uncertain whether his past would prove a stumbling-block over which he would fall to total ruin, or a stepping-stone by which he might climb to a nobler life. During his absence from the city he had tried to decide upon some course of action. But the problems of life are seldom simple; when personal wrong- doing is introduced as a factor, they become hopelessly complex. Had he not been bound to another, Stanton might have found a simple solu- tion to the problem by marrying Eadha. As it was such a step would ruin the life of the loyal girl who expected soon to be his bride. How could he write Mabel Everest the wretched tale that would make her give him up? And his mother what would it mean to her? As for himself, he could bear neither the thought of giving up his betrothed, nor the bitter shame of exposure. Everywhere he turned he ran into a solid wall of blank despair. No thoroughfare out of his trouble could be found. So he was letting matters take their course. Mabel should come to I "And for God's sake tell me it is not true,"' FIRES OF DESIRE 165 him, as it had been planned before this tragedy began. It was the sheerest madness to think that such a thing could be wise. He did not think so. When he faced the question, he knew it was the way to ruin all. But he could not decide to act when action meant, at once, stabbing the hearts that loved him best, and cutting the only cord binding him to all the dearest hopes of his life. Things were not to be left to take their course, however. For some reason, hidden in the deep, unfathomable mystery of Providence, no one of a thousand things that might have happened to prevent his fall had happened. Now, matters were to be taken out of his own hands, and Frank was to be saved from drifting on to total ruin. Sitting in the lamp-light by the library table, the young man had been trying to read. He had succeeded only in wandering about in the maze of his own difficulties. With book fallen upon the floor and his face buried in his hands, he was groaning out his misery when he heard a step be- side him. He glanced up to see Richard Clifford standing there, with the look of a dead man upon his face. " Stanton," he said, " read that, and for God's sake tell me it is not true." Clifford thrust a letter into his hand. It was 166 FIRES OF DESIRE from Mrs. Clifford, telling her husband what Esther Emmett had written her about Radha. For a few moments Stanton tried in vain to read it. The lines danced before his eyes. Then out of the blur there seemed to come the words that had so long haunted him ' Sorrow tracketh wrong. . . On ! On ! On ! On ! ' But at last he managed to read enough to satisfy himself his secret was known. The paper fell from his hand. He hud- dled together in his chair. With the look of a hunted animal, he turned his head from side to side. Through lips so dry that they cracked, he spoke; what he said was only a cry. " Have pity upon me, O my friend." " It is true, then? " asked Clifford in a hollow voice. " Yes." " This, then, is the way we guard the sacred trust committed to us by our dead benefactor! Such is the helper who comes to me to aid in the work! Thus do we show the Hindus what Chris- tian life is!" Clifford seemed almost to be talk- ing to himself as he ground the words out be- tween his set teeth. He paced the length of the room and back, stopping again before the cringing figure. " Why did you not marry the poor girl?" he de- manded. FIRES OF DESIRE 167 " I could not marry a Bengali," Stanton plead- ed. " Besides, I had already promised to marry another." " Many better men than you have married women of this country. They found them worthy wives, and left descendants who are an honor to their names. As for Miss Everest, I do not know her, but no doubt she will spurn you as she would the filth of these streets. You are mad not to know it," Clifford rejoined severely. " I will go to her and marry her now," said Stanton with suddenly formed resolution. " It is too late," said Clifford bitterly. " The poor child is crazy, and Esther thinks she will surely die." Both were silent for a few minutes. Clifford dropped wearily into a chair, and stared straight before him. " I have sinned, indeed," Stanton murmured after a time, " but I was fearfully tempted. She" At that Clifford sprang up with an energy which overturned his chair. He towered above his companion an embodiment of wrath. Stanton had not really intended to lay the blame upon Radha. He merely meant to try to explain how one thing had led to another. But he had touched a mountain, clothed in cloud, and smoke, i68 FIRES OF DESIRE and thunder, and lightning. The man's words were low, but full of passionate fury. " She ! Don't come to me with an excuse as old as sin itself, and tell me what she did. Who is she? Daughter of our dead benefactor. A girl who never consciously did a wrong thing in her life. Child of a subject race, whose customs and climate have sapped their strength for cen- turies. One of the women of India, taught for millenniums to please and obey men. Yes, a woman with a heart of love that made her your slave. Don't take her name upon your lips. Were you in your native state, and had this wronged child a father there, you would probably be shot down like a dog in the streets." " I call heaven to witness that I didn't intend this wrong," cried Stanton. " Hear me out, Stanton," Clifford went on. " I am determined that you shall see yourself to- night. 'Didn't intend it?' Who are you that you should go drifting along to the destruction of others? Oh, no, you didn't intend it, and it is not your fault ; so it must be Radha's ! I should think the very name of woman would burn your lips hereafter. Your pleasure has been taken. Now you will slink away to forget this broken life and begin anew, unfettered by the past. But this poor child will stay here to live or die in FIRES OF DESIRE 169 shame. Your mother's gray hairs will go down to the grave with sorrow. Your promised wife will eat out her heart with grief. As you be- stride the ruins of these three women's lives, don't try to make excuses to me." When he paused, Clifford noticed that Stanton had bowed his head upon his arms on the table, and was shaken by the hard, tearless sobs of a strong man made weak by overmastering grief. His face softened somewhat, and he turned away, and stood looking out the window into the dark- ness. In a few minutes he began to speak again, but less severely. " I have more to say, Stanton, but it shall be of a different tenor. It is not my place to avenge this wrong, or even to be your judge. Perhaps I have spoken too harshly, for I don't want to drive you to despair. You are worth too much to sell yourself to the devil. But I could not help speak- ing my mind. You must know what this means to me. I love Radha as a sister. She was com- mitted to my care by her noble father. This thing will probably get out and make our cause a stench in the nostrils of the Hindu community. Enough of that for the present, though," he said, checking himself. " It is all marred now beyond repair, I want to advise you what to do." " If you will advise and help me," said Stanton, i;o FIRES OF DESIRE raising his head from the table, " you will be my friend indeed." " First, then, I advise you to leave this house to-night. It is not fitting that you should stay under this roof. Go to a hotel, and I'll send your things over to you in the morning. Next, you should write to Miss Everest and tell her not to come out here to meet disappointment and shame. You better write to your mother, too, before she hears of it from other sources. And write like a man, without any excuses, and without re- proaches upon womanhood. Finally, leave this country forever. You can do no good here. Go home and play the man. You can do that best by not whining over any consequences that come up- on you from this folly. Above all, keep from the cowardice that tries to drown misery in suicide or vice." " I thank you for your counsel," Stanton said, rising. " I shall try to follow it." An hour later, he sat in a room of the Great Eastern Hotel. The Mukerji home he was to see no more. His work was broken off, and a good cause injured. But as for that, Clifford was the kind of a general to wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. Stanton was not then thinking of such things. Writing materials lay on the table be- FIRES OF DESIRE 171 fore him. He was trying to write to his mother and his betrothed. It was a hard task, and a bitter. Many times did he start to write, and then throw down his pen in despair. The faces of those two women came between him and the page. At times they seemed to be looking at him with perfect trust, as though assuring him that nothing could make them believe what he wrote. Again, he saw them shrink away from him with horror-stricken, averted looks, as from one who had forever cut himself off from the circle wherein their pure lives moved. Yet again, the faces were so wan and tearful with grief that he was sure their sor- row was eating out their lives. Then there arose before him the memory of past happy days. He was playing about at home free from care. Later, he saw himself fighting for little Mabel in the street. By and by, he was at college, bravely doing his tasks, telling over to Mother at night the victories of the day, sitting proudly at Mabel's side in the old chapel at times of public entertainment. Mabel and Mother, they were the golden cord binding him to all that was brightest and best in the past. Was his own hand now to cut that cord? And the future it came before him as he had so often dreamed of it. His own home, his Mabel. 172 FIRES OF DESIRE Ah, it should yet be. He would let her come to him. The wedding should take place before she heard of this dark stain. She would forgive him then. Together they would go from that accursed land and be happy somewhere. What mattered it where, if only he might have Mabel with him? The half-written letters were torn to pieces and flung away. Suddenly the burden of the past weeks seemed to fall from him. He was in the home on Corn- wallis Street again. The Cliffords were there, and Radha was there. All were in gala attire, ?nd the house was decked with flowers. Up the stairway, the strains of the wedding march float- ed to him. Radha came to tell him his bride was ready for him. " Ah, little sister," he said to her, "I had an evil dream last night. I thought you had come be- tween me and my Mabel." " Silly boy to dream such things," she replied. " How could your little sister come between you and your beloved? " She led him to Mabel, and together they went down the broad stairs to the music of the wed- ding march. Little Radha went before them, looking radiant, and scattering roses in their way. He was smiling to think how sorely that bad dream had troubled him. FIRES OF DESIRE 173 Then he found himself sitting in his chair at the hotel. Worn out with misery, he had dropped asleep and dreamed. As he realized which was the dream and which the reality, he cried out against the bitterness of his fate. The struggle began once more. But at last the letters were written and sealed. It was bet- ter so. He would not try to drag Mabel down in- to the pit where he had fallen. Nor would he leave his mother to learn his ruin from others. Perhaps he could comfort her heart, at least, when he got home. She would not cast him off, whatever others might do. After the letters were written, he threw himself upon the bed without undressing. Despite his suffering, he slept better than he had for many nights. Two weeks later, Stanton was homeward bound. As the steamer dropped down the river, he stood looking wistfully out upon the receding city. With what high hopes and noble purposes had he arrived there a little more than a year be- fore. How much he had sacrificed to come out to India for the help of its needy millions. It had all come to nothing; no help for anybody, and only ruin for him. The ship was passing the Botanical Gardens. A great lump rose in his throat. Turning hastily away, he went to his 174 FIRES OF DESIRE cabin. It was all a dark riddle, too hard for him to read. Lying there in his bunk, he suddenly raised his head and listened. A bitter smile came to his lips. In the thump of the ship's engines, and the vibrations of the screw, he heard the singing of a dirge. From that moment it never left him. It sang in the day and it sang in the night. Going fast or going slow, those engines never lost the monotonous refrain ' Sorrow tracketh wrong As echo follows song, On! Onl On! On!' FIRES OF DESIRE 175 CHAPTER X SHIPS THAT PASS MRS. STANTON looked up from the paper she had been trying to read. She saw by the sitting- room clock that it was past the usual hour for the afternoon mail delivery. For several days she had been looking for her weekly letter from India. " Surely, I shall get a letter this evening," she said to herself, by way of reassurance. It was growing so late that she needed all the expedients available to keep her from losing hope for that day. The weekly letters from her boy were the little woman's life. She could not tell just what day they would arrive; but they always came, and usually the latter part of the week. They were a month old when they reached her. That, how- ever, seldom obtruded itself upon her. Unless there was something to awaken her anxiety, she did not stop to think what might have happened 176 FIRES OF DESIRE during the month that the news was coming. Reading Frank's letters was almost like listening to him talk. Mother and son had been close com- panions so long that they understood each other, and talking or writing was like thinking aloud together. Abounding in accounts of his doings, of his new friends, of all the strange sights and sounds of a far country, to say nothing of the finer personal touches which breathed the writer's love for his mother, and revealed the sentiments of his soul, it it no wonder that Mrs. Stanton eagerly awaited the arrival of her son's weekly letter. That winter day, the sky was heavily overcast. Although it was not late, the room was growing dark, except about the open fire. Going to the window, the lady peered down Broadway in hopes of seeing the postman. When almost ready to conclude that he must have passed her by, she was rewarded by seeing him come towards the house. A moment later, her old servant put the mail in- to her hand. She saw the coveted letter among the others. " Sam," she said, " you may lock up the house for the night when you are ready to go to your cabin. I am going up to my own room now." She had been out to afternoon tea, and did not care for anything else that night. The evening FIRES OF DESIRE 177 would be spent enjoying her letter and beginning one in reply. Upon reaching her room, Mrs. Stanton heaped fresh coal on her fire, and settled herself comfort- ably in her large, easy-chair. No epicure knew better how to augment the pleasures of his table by faultless surroundings and service, than this little woman knew how to heighten the delight of an hour with her son's letter. As he would like to see her, and just as she used to enjoy a pleasant evening's chat with him that was the ideal she kept before her at such times. The letter was an unusually long one, she noticed by its weight as she opened it. Only a few words had been read, when the widow paused with a frightened look on her face. Then she read on through line after line of the story of the fall of her heart's idol. No cry es- caped her lips. There were no tears in her eyes. But her hand trembled as she folded the pages and put them back into the envelope. In the fire- light her face shone with spectral whiteness as she leaned forward and laid the letter upon the coals. Evidently she was dazed and benumbed, as she might have been by a heavy blow. Per- haps that took some of the sharpness off the pain at her heart. Reclining in her deep, cushioned chair, her 178 FIRES OF DESIRE mind went back over the years of her boy's life. It was in the days of her young wifehood, and heaven had just opened before her in the eyes of her angel baby. The little hands, soft and pink as rose's petal, were upon her face and breast. In her ears sounded the music of a baby voice It was a few years later, and he a wee lad at school, full of wise sayings and droll ways that delighted his happy father and mother Ah, yes, it was not long after that when her widow- hood darkened her home and heart. She was weeping by the side of her beloved dead ; she felt a pair of sturdy little arms about her neck. A tearful voice was manfully bidding her not to cry, and repeating over and over, i I will take care of you now.' .... The years have sped on. It seemed so strange for her boy to be a young man. But the passing years were full of the boy whose devotion kept her heart warm, whose talents made her proud, whose love of all that was good filled her days and nights with praise Off to India now, and she left in her loneliness. That was a cloud, but it was shot through and through with glory. It was worth while to be lonely to have such a boy. She might never see him again. There would be a waiting-place in another land, though, and she and the noble father, who had gone on before, long ago, would watch till he FIRES OF DESIRE 179 should come from his brave toil amid the shouts of the harvest home, bearing precious sheaves with him. But no ; she was in the present once more. All those bright visions had been swallowed up in blackness. Between the sacred memories of the Land of Used to Be, and the beckoning splen- dors of the Land of Yet to Be, there hung the clouds of sin. Though she desired with unut- terable longing to see her boy go forward into that beautiful future, she felt it had ceased to be possible. Sterner than cherubim and flaming swords at Eden's gate, there stood barring the way before him the cruel demon of his own folly. Forevermore, it must lie where his feet could not stand the country of the undefiled who have needed no cleansing, the Land of Might Have Been. It was late when Mrs. Stanton roused herself from her revery. White, drawn lips, dark cir- cles about the eyes, hands pressed convulsively to her heart, showed that the semi-stupor of the sudden shock had passed. Her eyes sought the pictured face of Hoffman's great Christ hanging before her. The empty arms of bereaved mother- hood stretched out towards the suffering Saviour. " O, my Lord," she cried through twitching lips. " I gave my boy to Thee. My heart fed up- i8o FIRES OF DESIRE on the hope that he would lead the lost children of a sin-stricken land to Thee. But he has lost his way in the darkness, and led a little one of Thine into sin. Forgive us, Lord, that we have thus dealt with Thee. And, O, may Thy love go after my boy until he be drawn back to Thee again." The servants came into the room in the gray morning. They found the ashes cold upon the hearth. The light of the lamp shone upon their mistress sitting in her big arm-chair. When they called to her she did not answer. Though they shook her, she did not awake. She never will. The same postman who delivered Mrs. Stan- ton's letter stopped a few minutes later at the Everest home. Another woman was to cross her brook Kidron that night, and enter alone into her Gethsemane. Mabel Everest was in her room. She was sit- ting on the floor with a great litter of papers about her. Preparatory to going to India, she was looking through her old letters. Most of them had been torn to pieces and heaped beside her for burning. There was one collection too sacred to be destroyed. Those she had been sort- ing out and tying together in packages, accord- ing to the years that they were written. FIRES OF DESIRE 181 It was a long task. In the first place, their name was legion for they were many. Then, there were numerous passages in them that had to be read and mused upon. They covered quite a period of years, and ranged all the way from hastily scribbled notes to long letters. Read in sequence, they might have been called ' The Record of the Evolution of Love.' It was an il- lustrated treatise too, for there were photographs along with the letters. The pictures were of various sizes and styles ; chiefly of the lover, oc- casionally of the girl, or again, of both together. Mabel was tying them in the packages of letters belonging to the same time. Evidently it was a pleasant task, for the girl's face glowed, and her eyes shone with a soft light. She was tying the last packet and gently humming a love song to herself when there was a tap at her door. " Come in," she called, without rising. A colored girl entered with a letter. Mabel shook her hair back from her face and smiled up at the girl. " Mattie, won't you have fun cleaning up this room to-morrow?" she said, glancing around at the litter. Before the girl left the room, Mabel was im- patiently tearing open the letter. It was the last one she expected to get before setting out upon 182 FIRES OF DESIRE her long voyage. Deep down in her heart, that journey to her bridal was a sore cross to the girl. Her dream had ever been of the lover coming for her, and a wedding in her own church among her friends. But what will not a woman do for love's sake? The regrets were buried beneath her joy in going to her own handsome lover-boy. A stifled cry escaped the girl's lips almost as soon as she began to read. She let the paper fall as though it had burnt her. With a vague hope that there might be some mistake about it, she picked it up and breathlessly turned to the sig- nature. The writing was only too surely Frank's, so she read it to the end. The confession sought to spare her as much as possible, but it made her know that its writer had been twined about with hissing serpents of vice. Her face was burning hot with shame as that breath of impurity touched her virgin soul. To think that such a thing had come near her life! In a hazy way, she had known that the like was supposed to happen in the world. But not in her world; not to her hero, who had been her high-priest, continually ministering unto her in holy things! Mabel threw herself, face downward, prostrate on the floor, with outstretched hands clutching at the rugs. By and by, she fell to moaning softly, as she lay there. Then she called upon her FIRES OF DESIRE 183 mother, long dead, to come and comfort her. At length, tears came to her relief passionate, bit- ter, pitiful tears. Finally, she grew calm, and began to think. She was a girl of strength ; there were problems to be faced and solved. Thus she lay a long time. When she arose and crept to bed y as a wounded bird might flutter back to its nest, her resolution was taken. Frank Stanton was coming home w r ould be there in a few weeks. She could not see him, could not marry him now. He belonged to another. Neither could she bear to think of staying there to explain to her friends why she was not leaving, and why she had given Frank up. She would say nothing of what had hap- pened. His mother would know about his home- coming. The little woman must be seen in the morning and entreated to keep the secret. There would be no difficulty in getting such a promise, Mabel felt sure. All her arrangements were made for her to go to India; to India she would go? Failure to respond to the call for dinner brought her brother's wife to the room to inquire why. Mabel pleaded being weary with her day's work. She tried to speak bravely, for she had a part to play. But her voice sounded so dead tired that the sister went down to tell her hus- 184 FIRES OF DESIRE band that all the final preparations and festivities were wearing the girl out. Intelligence of Mrs. Stanton's death came early next morning. That made Mabel's swollen eyes and depressed spirits seem natural, for she loved the elder woman devotedly. It also put an end to all farewell festivities. The wind was being mercifully tempered to the shorn lamb. While shielded from her acquaintances, and left to hide her grief in her home, she was kept busy with thoughts and work for her departure. That made impossible exclusive devotion to her sorrow. There was little wisdom in the plan made for the girl to go to India at the beginning of the hot season. She and her lover had not realized that, however, and they had both been impatient. Moreover, she was going with Miss Kenwick, a veteran missionary returning after her furlough, who thought all seasons equally good in India. The lady had spent many years there, was able to go about in the sun without even wearing a topi, and seemed really to enjoy the heat. It was in accord with human nature that she should have little patience with anyone who could not do the same. No Board had any direct voice in the matter of Mabel's going, as she was to be an hon- orary worker, at her own and her future hus- band's charges. They had planned to be married FIRES OF DESIRE 185 in Calcutta, before the beginning of the severe heat. Their honeymoon was to be passed in the mountains at the time of year that Stanton could best leave his work. Thus it had been arranged. Therefore, just a week after the arrival of Frank's confession, Mabel's brother left her in charge of Miss Renwick, as the ship steamed out of New York harbor. The voyage was dreary enough for the poor girl. Nothing had the power to interest her very much. Yet the incidents of the journey served, to divert her at times, and the necessity of keeping up a semblance of cheerfulness saved her from giving way to her sorrow. Her feelings towards Frank were rather mixed. After the passing of her first burst of indignation because of the misery in which he had involved her, she had tried to exculpate him. He had been entrapped by the very people he had gone to help. A designing woman had betrayed him into sin and ruined his life. At such thoughts, her jealous anger had kindled against Radha. But there would always arise before her the picture of the little Bengali girl as Frank had so often described her in his letters. Then, too, his last letter had manfully disdained to reflect any blame on Radha. She found herself pitying the little stranger, and even thinking that she might try to comfort her if she 186 FIRES OF DESIRE found her alive. In different ways, they both had been wronged by the man they loved. Sorrowing together, they might find some balm for their wounded hearts in each other's love. Yet even Mabel's noble heart found it difficult to cherish such sentiments towards the woman who had come between her and happiness. She did not think that she could bear to see Radha. For the most part, she gave herself up to a mingling of anger and pity towards Frank, and sorrow for the blighting of her own life's dream. Landing at Southampton, Mabel and her com- panion went at once to London, and embarked for Bombay. While moving swiftly in the Medi- terranean Sea on their eastward course, they passed very close to a large steamer plowing slowly in the opposite direction. The ships sig- naled each other as they passed. Everybody was on deck, of course, on both vessels. With good glasses, even the faces of the passengers could be made out on the two steamers. But Mabel had loaned her binocular to her friend. So she did not see on the hurricane deck of the passing ship a pale and listless looking young man who was paying little heed to what was transpiring. It was Frank Stanton. Thus at close range, all unknowingly, passed those two, passed, and went FIRES OF DESIRE 187 their different ways, until half the broad earth's circumference stretched between them. Upon arriving in Bombay, Mabel was com- pelled to be interested in spite of herself. The first moments were filled with the anguish of her changed life. It was there, at that very hour, that Frank would have met her, to take her on in triumph to Calcutta and their nuptials. She had to shut her lips very tight to keep back a sob as she went ashore. But she was soon caught up in a whirl that put an end to all brooding thoughts. They drove first to the Apollo Hotel. Then Miss Ren wick took the girl out to purchase some needed equipment. First came a solah topi, the inevitable pith helmet. Her companion had refused to let her buy one in London or Port Said. The genuine article could best be had in India. So the girl had kept out of the sun after leaving Suez. When she put on the new purchase and looked at herself in a glass, her first thought was one of thankfulness that Frank was not there to see her. She smiled wanly, though, at that bit of feminine vanity, as she remembered why he was not there. To her no small amazement they went next to a bazar where sheets, pillows, and long, narrow quilts were bought, and made up into a huge bundle for them. " Why, child," said Miss Renwick when ques- i88 FIRES OF DESIRE. tioned as to the meaning of the procedure, " they are to sleep on in the train, of course." When they at last got into the railway car- riage, Mabel was horrified at the number and variety of things, they had with them. Hand- bags, holdalls stuffed to bursting with rugs and bedding, hat-boxes, umbrellas, small steamer trunks, a capacious lunch hamper, a large earthen jug of drinking water all piled into the compart- ment in which they were to ride. There were three other ladies already in the compartment, and they, severally and collectively, had a like assortment of impedimenta. Mabel's protests were vain. The trunks and bags must be there so they could get at their clothing. The bedding was indispensable for the night. Miss Renwick did not like the bottled mineral water, or the food served at the stations. Boiled water must be carried in a surahi to escape cholera from im- pure water along the way. Food must be taken in the tiffin basket to save the expense and in- convenience of eating at the railway restaurants. Mabel felt less ashamed, but more crowded, when she found that everybody traveled so. In their second-class carriage there was room for the five ladies to make up their beds, and sleep with fair comfort. Three long, narrow seats ran lengthwise of the compartment. Above the bench FIRES OF DESIRE 189 On each side, was a shelf to let down at night to form the two upper berths. Everything was stowed away as compactly as possible, and the journey begun with what cheer the travelers could command. Mabel had determined not to go to Calcutta. She had heard nothing to the contrary, and sup- posed Eadha would be there. Miss Renwick was going to visit friends at several stations, before proceeding to her work. The girl would go with her. The elder lady had been told little about her companion's affairs. But Mabel had let her know that Mr. Stanton had been called home, and that she intended to stay at some up-country station as a helper. Something in the younger woman's manner had checked the curious ques- tions of the other. And thus it happened that, all unconscious of what awaited her, Mabel ar- rived early one hot morning at Mungalpore. 190 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER XI UNTO THE HILLS RADHA had remained at Mungalpore, under the care of Esther Emmett. Her frantic ravings had gradually ceased, to be followed by a gentle lun- acy. At first she had continued very weak. But as she passed altogether from under the influence of the frenzy that had wrought upon her, she gained somewhat in strength. For a time she was melancholy and tearful. Even that, however, had left her. A spirit of gentleness and quietness seemed to enfold her. Her sensitiveness to all things beautiful, whether in sight or sound, became most marked. Her consideration for all about her, and her apprecia- tion of every kindness, were singularly pathetic. All that was dark in the girl's past had totally faded from her memory. There was no knowl- edge of Stanton's desertion of her, nor of what she had heard of his approaching marriage to Radha gathered flowers.' FIRES OF DESIRE 191 another. She had not been told that the young man had gone to America, nor could she have comprehended it. What remained to her of her past life was the picture of that glorious day at the Botanical Garden, and the recollection of Stanton's parting promise not to forget the Gand- harva rite which had bound them together. With little realization of the flight of time, she mani- fested no desire to return to Calcutta. She was waiting for Stanton to come for her; then they w r ere to live happily together always in the old home. Every day she gathered flowers or leaves to weave a garland to hang about her lover's neck when he should come. They withered over night, and the memory of having made them faded from her mind. So the days were passed in bright dreams of past and future. But to Esther Em- mett, who long had loved the child, her pretty chattering and her roseate hopes were almost harder to bear than her madness had been. No one ventured to speak to Mabel of Radha upon the day of her arrival. The day was hot, and the stranger was glad to keep quietly in the bungalow. Esther and Radha had not been com- ing over for their meals since the latter's illness. So the day passed, and Mabel went early to bed. At dawn she arose and slipped out into the com- IQ2 FIRES OF DESIRE pound. There was some freshness in the air, and it was pleasant among the flowers that careful watering was keeping alive there. As she wan- dered about she suddenly heard a light step be- hind her, and turned to see approaching a slight little figure gracefully draped in a pretty sari. " Oh, how beautiful !" she involuntarily ex- claimed under her breath, as she saw the dark, oval face, with its great eyes glancing smilingly at her. " You see I have come for my flowers early to- day," the girl called out to Mabel. The unceremonious greeting surprised Mabel somewhat. She thought it might be the way of the country, though. Without more words the slim, girlish figure began to move about the garden. Gathering blos- soms here and there, and often stopping to hover like a humming-bird over some fragrant flower, the little stranger made a picture that Mabel was glad to watch. It was not long until the flower- gatherer had quite a heap of leaves and blossoms in the fold of her sari. Then she came over where the other girl was standing and demurely sat down at her feet. " I want to weave my garland quickly, for he may come soon." The dark fingers were moving swiftly, as the girl smiled up at her companion. FIRES OF DESIRE 193 " And who is hef " The words slipped out be- fore Mabel was really conscious of it. " My lover, whom I wedded one day among the flowers. He is coming soon to take me to my home," she said simply, naively. " Will you tell me your name? " the older girl questioned. " Oh, don't you know me? " asked the garland weaver as she looked up in gentle surprise. " I am Radha Mukerji." She had turned again to her work and did not see the painful flush that spread over the other's face. Intent upon her task, she was softly sing- ing to herself. And so they two were face to face. The sur- prise of the meeting was so great to Mabel that she could not speak or think for some minutes. She had never heard that Radha had gone to Mungalpore, and had no idea of meeting her. Then she had thought Radha was crazy and dy- ing. This little woman seemed neither. On the contrary she looked well, though frail, and was certainly happy. Had the girl so soon recovered in mind and body and heart? Had she wed some dusky lover of her own people who was coming for her that day? Radha had paused in her work and was looking at her with a puzzled expression. 194 FIRES OF DESIRE " If you do not know me," she said, " then you must be newly come here. What is your name? " Mabel hesitated, but Radha was watching her and waiting for an exchange of courtesies. > " I am just arrived from America," she replied, beginning to feel her way cautiously along, while watching her questioner. " I am a Kentuckian from Lexington, Kentucky." There was no sign of any recognition on the part of the other. Radha was quietly waiting to hear the name. " My name is Everest," she continued, " Mabel Everest." " A pretty name," said Radha, and she looked long into the tall girl's face. " I like your name, and I think you are very beautiful. May we not love each other? " she asked, at length. " I, I hope so," Mabel said rather hesitatingly. It was not easy to do, but she simply must ask another question. " May I ask what is the name of the lover who is to wear the garland?" She was trying to speak naturally and indifferently. But her voice became almost a trembling whisper, and she had to turn half away. " Oh, it is Mr. Stanton," the other replied, readily, " Mr. Frank Stanton, though he told me FIRES OF DESIRE 195 long ago when he used to call me ' little sister/ that I must call him Frank." With that she dropped the half made garland across her lap, and clasping her hands about her knees, began to prattle of her lover. It was al- most all about the day in the Garden, the nup- tials by exchange of garlands, and his promise never to forget. As Mabel listened, it dawned upon her what it all meant. This darkly beautiful little stranger, sitting among the flowers and so happily talking, was but the shattered fragment of her former self. With that, a great pity came upon her, and she stooped down and kissed the upturned face. " You are beautiful, too," she said, " and we surely must love each other." They were sitting side by side, quietly talking, when Esther Emmett came hastily into the com- pound, looking anxiously for her charge. Mabel arose with some embarrassment, for she saw that the other young woman evidently divined who she was, and was greatly confused. But she recovered herself instantly, and spoke with a quiet dignity that set the other at ease, and showed there was nothing either to conceal or to explain. " I am Miss Everest, and you must be Dr. Emmett, as I have seen everybody else here. 196 FIRES OF DESIRE You see that little Radha and I have been making friends over the flowers, and having an early morning chat." " I am so glad to meet you," the Doctor said, as they shook hands. " And I am glad to find Kadha in such good keeping. It gave me such a fright when I found she had slipped out alone." What all the ladies in the station had dreaded, had thus come about of itself. " Girls," said Esther when talking about it to Miss Hammond and Jennie Pierce, " if ever there was a born queen, Mabel Everest is one. You can't imagine how beautifully she came through that scene. I could not have said a thing, but she was as self-possessed as anything imagin- able." From that day Mabel and Kadha were fast friends. The former talked of her and planned for her with the others. But no one ever ventured to intrude upon Mabel's sorrow, or speak a word of the man she loved. When Miss Renwick left Mungalpore Mabel decided to remain there. She was not venturing to look very far into the future those days. But she was resolved to be useful somewhere while in India. In fact, she had a feeling that anything she might do to help the people would in some FIRES OF DESIRE 197 measure atone for the wrong her lover had done to a daughter of the land. That she had lost him did not lessen her love for him. Knowing how great must be the man's anguish over the ruin of his life, the loss of his mother, and his separation from her, there was in her heart a tender yearning for him. Perhaps any toil and pain she might undergo would have a vicarious element in it, to work to his good in time or in eternity. Her leaving home had been under the impulse of the blank and pain that had fallen across her life. At times, on the voyage, she had repented of the hasty step. Since meeting Radha, she was glad she had come. Never, while the girl lived, could she think of marrying Frank. To her mind, his union with the Bengali girl was as real as though it had been ratified by the modern, in- stead of only by the ancient laws of the land. She would stay and tenderly care for the hapless girl. She would also do what she could for the girl's country. Mungalpore afforded the best op- portunity for the former, a good chance for the latter, and pleasant companions besides. There she would remain. The ladies at the station said it was beginning to get hot. Mabel thought there was a little mis- take in the tense, for the thermometer was daily^ 198 FIRES OF DESIRE registering one hundred and six degrees in the shade. As they all said it would keep getting hot- ter and hotter throughout May and June, she could see the propriety of using mild terms for the last of April. Miss Best had been in the mountains for some time on her vacation, and Miss Hammond had recently gone. Miss Pierce and Dr. Emmett were to take their turn later. The Doctor always preferred to go away during the rains; she said she could stand baking bet- ter than boiling. But it began to grow apparent that Esther's movements for that season would have to be governed by the needs of her special patient. Radha was visibly languishing. Her vital forces seemed to lessen in proportion to her mental weakness. After calling in an experienced civil surgeon from the nearest city for consultation, it was decided to try what the radical change to a high altitude would do for the sufferer. Mabel had borne the heat very well, but it would have been unwise and useless for her to remain on the plains during the summer. She would go with Esther and Radha, and spend her time studying Hindi, and helping the sick girl. Equipped with all the luggage necessary for a long journey, and the clothing and bedding re- quired for an indefinite sojourn in the mountains, they started late one afternoon. They were for- FIRES OF DESIRE 199 tunate enough to have a compartment to them- selves. Before daylight next morning they had reached Kutni, and so completed the first stage of their journey. It was hours before they could get a mail train for Allahabad, so they went to the Dak Bungalow for rest and food. The house, built by the government for travelers, af- forded them comfortable rooms, and such meals as they cared to order from the man in charge, at reasonable prices. Evening found them on the road once more, much refreshed by a good day's rest. When they arrived in Allahabad, however, Kadha was very tired and weak from a night of broken rest in a crowded carriage. Heat, loss of sleep, and the ceaseless jolting over the rails had hurt her head cruelly. It was necessary to remain in the city two days, before the girl was sufficiently recovered to go on. From there they traveled first-class to avoid the risk of being crowded. By breaking journey at Cawnpore for a few hours, and at Lucknow for two days, they reached Saharampur at last, after having traveled and rested by turns, for over a week. There they made a further pause before setting out by dak ghari or stage, for the wearisome forty miles that lay between them and 200 FIRES OF DESIRE the foot of the mountains. It had been an anxious eight hundred miles journey. That toilsome way between Saharampur and Rajpur! Who that traveled it in former years has ever forgotten it. The jolting gharis or ton- gas, the shouting drivers, the wretched horses, the rough road, the break-downs, they all linger in memory. If the travelers were not wasted by disease and worn out by the railway journey, that last stretch of road saw to it that they were reduced to such a state as to need the invigorat- ing air found in the hills beyond. If, as was too often the case, they had not left their work until almost too weak to travel, they began the last stage of the route completely exhausted, and ended it well-nigh dead. It is better now. A branch railway has been run from Laksar to Dehra Dun. Arriving there in the early morning, a tonga ride of seven miles carries the traveler into Rajpur. After a good breakfast there, he mounts a horse, or takes a seat in a dandy that is to be carried by four men, and so goes on to Mussooree or Landour. In fact, if he is so dis- posed, he may even make the run from Dehra to Rajpur in an automobile, so far has civilization pushed its advance guard into the Orient. It was better then than it used to be. There was a time when soldier and civilian, missionary FIRES OF DESIRE 201 and merchant, and the families of them all, knew naught of fleeing into the mountains before heat and disease. They lived or died as best they could on the plains. The cemeteries would seem to indicate that most of them did the latter, es- pecially the women and children. Later, it was a journey of six weeks or more up the rivers be- neath the blazing sun, or along the scorching highways. It is not strange that many lay down by the way, at one town or another, to die. How many stricken ones set out upon that long pil- grimage to seek the favor of the spirit of health, dwelling in the mountains. With what anxious care and prayers did parents watch over their sick little ones, being worn away before their very eyes by the hardships of the way. And so watched and wept and prayed husbands or wives as their . beloved fled with them over India's burning sands, lifting up their eyes unto the hills for help, and seeking the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. It had been an anxious journey for Esther and Mabel. They dared not delay too long in the heat, nor were they able to hurry Radha for- ward beyond her powers of endurance. She was weak and wan when they came to the end of the railway, and faced the difficulties of the road be- fore them. The heat was intense day and night, 202 FIRES OF DESIRE despite all the relief they could get from ice and waving punkahs. " I am so tired, my sister," Radha had been saying for weary miles. " The noise of the train is in my head, and I would like to lie down and rest." But the Doctor knew the only hope was in get- ting her up to the cool heights beyond. It was a race with death. The two young women did what they could to make the girl comfortable, and re- vive her strength. The pursuing foe had so many allies along the way to aid him. Every night showed plainly that he had gained on them all day. Mabel got to thinking that the constant click, click of the wheels over the rails was but the remorseless beat of death's feet upon the track of their little patient. Would they be able to push on beyond the railroad? They rested all day. Keeping the punkahs swinging vigorously and cloths wet with ice- water upon her head, they managed to get Eadha comfortably asleep. In the evening the Doctor administered the strongest stimulants she dared use. She enlisted Radha's will-power in the fight by telling her of the beauties of the place they were soon to reach, of its pleasant resting- places, and, withal, of the wonderful flowers she .would find there for garlands. When they set out FIRES OF DESIRE 203 to make the trip in the cool of the night, the girl seemed stronger than for some days. By morning they were in Dehra. In the light of dawn they drove along the wide, smooth road to Rajpur. The sight of its overarching trees, the hedges of roses along the way, and the beauti- ful houses back of them, again revived Radha's spirits that had been drooping sadly for hours. With tears of joy in their eyes and prayers of thanksgiving in their hearts, the two women conveyed their charge into the hotel at Rajpur. There they might rest indeed. They were more than three thousand feet above the sea. The place was cool that early in the summer, and it was quiet. Besides, the great mountains rose right before them, and seven miles away, whither their patient might be comfortably carried in a dandy, was their destination. They would stay where they were until Radha was rested, or until a change for the worse made necessary a speedy departure for the remaining few hours of their ascent. The rest was sweet to them all. Three days made so marked an improvement in the patient that the Doctor began to have high hopes of better things beyond. When they set out for the climb, Mabel and Esther went upon horses. Radha was propped up with cushions in a dandy. Swinging by leather straps on two 204 FIRES OF DESIRE poles upon the shoulders of four men, the boat- shaped dandy, with its armed seat and its place for the feet to rest, made an easier means of con- veyance than any the girl had hitherto tried. Up and up, they went along the winding, climb- ing road. The bearers of the dandy swung along at a good pace. The horses, each with a boy clinging to its tail, who would ride them down the hill, were kept behind or beside the dandy. The scent of the hills was in their nostrils, the pure air was in their lungs, the beauty of the out- look rejoiced their eyes. " See those great cacti !" cried Esther. " Look at their stiff branches. Don't they remind you for all the world of those wretched pictures of the ' seven golden candlesticks '? " They passed through a zone where a heavy shower had just fallen. It was steaming in the hot sunlight. " It is the warm fragrance of a hothouse of flowers," said Mabel, breathing deeply. Although it was a little late for them, a group of rhododendron trees was discovered aflame with the scarlet glories of their blossoms. Kadha made the men set down the dandy while she looked at the beautiful sight. " This makes me think of the Book," she said reverently, " We are upon holy ground, for this FIRES OF DESIRE 205 is the bush ablaze with the glory of God, burning but not consumed." Hopeful of rich stores of backsheesh at the top of the hill, some of the men broke great branches off the trees, and heaped them before the girl in the dandy. She was happy with the bright flowers and rich green leaves for the rest of the journey. At length, after they had passed Mussooree, and wound their steep way to Landour, lying be- yond, they turned off the main road. Suddenly they came upon a low, thatched cottage. Over its white walls honeysuckle and roses were clamber- ing. About it hung an atmosphere of peace. By the side of its door a placard bore the words " Rest Cottage." The weary travelers entered in. 206 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER XII AMONG THE HEIGHTS BEAUTIFUL for situation is Landour. Of all the hill stations, north and south, in India, it is queen. Darjiling has distinction from its proximity to Kinchinjunga and Mt. Everest, loftiest of the world's mountain peaks. Simla is gay with all the festivities that befit the sum- mer capital of the empire, and the presence of the Viceroy. But for peacefulness and restful- ness, for variety and sublimity of scenery, Mus- sooree, and especially its loftier neighbor, Lan- dour, cannot be equaled. Mussooree is a considerable station with its hotels, and club house, and boarding-houses, and smart English shops. At the height of the season it is crowded with visitors. With picnics, and tramps to Happy Valley, or Tivoli Gardens, or some one of the many attractive waterfalls about, together with the delights of shopping, the days are passed. At night there are various feasts FIRES OF DESIRE 207 and parties and dances. The neighboring settle- ment, sedately perched above it on the hills, never indulges in anything more worldly than after- noon teas and Sunday-school picnics. Hence, Landour is called ' Saint's Rest,' while Mus- sooree is known as l Sinner's Paradise.' But the saintliness of the one, and the sinfulness of the other are of a mild type, nor is there any im- passable gulf fixed between them. Landour is but a mile distant from its more metropolitan neigh- bor. That mile stands on end most of the way, however, and lifts the station to the noble alti- tude of nearly eight thousand feet. Landour was opened up and developed by the Government in 1827 as a health resort for British soldiers in India. Every summer, companies of sickly-looking troops are sent up to its barracks and hospitals. When sufficiently recruited they are sent away to make room for others. With little to do, with scant opportunity for highly spiced pleasures, with meager appreciation of the peaceful beauties of nature, the average Tommy Atkins is more rejoiced at the time of his de- parture, than on the day of his arrival at Lan- dour. Yet, like other things in this world, not pleasant but grievous for the time being, a so- journ in the pure air of the hills is a good thing for Tommy. 2o8 FIRES OF DESIRE Aside from the soldiers and a few families who are lovers of quiet, most of the sojourners at Landour are missionaries, and the good people who keep the houses where they board. English, Scotch, Welsh, Irish, Australian, Canadian and American missionaries, with occasionally a few from Germany or Scandinavia, they make a numerous company. Various denominations are represented, but the peace that from of old has crowned the summit of those hills is never broken by discordant jangling of divergent creeds. A wholesome, human lot of people they are, for the most part, with a healthful interest in all the affairs of the present world. They find quiet abodes in the cottages nestling about the hill- sides. Seeking rest, delighted at the chance to spend quiet hours with their books, rejoicing in abundance of human fellowship, keenly appre- ciative of the glories of the scenery about them, they love Landour with all their hearts. Three broad, level roads circle the breasts of three noble peaks. Running up to the crests, or winding down the sides of those hills are numer- ous by-paths. They lead to barracks and hos- pital, and to the many white cottages that make up the settlement. From one side of every one of the three mountains girt with their roads, may be seen a view of the wonderful Dun, stretching FIRES OF DESIRE 209 away mile on mile, a magnificent and varied panorama. Beyond its broad expanse lie the Siwalik Hills, running parallel with the Hima- layas. From the heights they seem scarcely more than molehills, but they are a mountain range, heavily timbered, and abounding in game, large and small. In ages long past, before mankind had appeared upon the globe, mighty monsters roamed those hills. In late times their skeletons have been unearthed there vast mastodons, rhi- noceros, hippopotami, camels, giraffs. They have long since perished from the earth, or are found represented in inferior species. But the lordly elephant continues to haunt the forests. Tales are told of how they used to come out upon the track to the peril of trains when the railroad first invaded that region; and how, in lighter vein, they used to pull up the telegraph poles for pastime. Far away across the Dun and over the Si- waliks, are the plains of India. Threading its way across the stretch of level country to the west, is seen the Jumna River. To the southeast, flows the Ganges. Rising in the snowy ranges back of Landour, those mighty rivers break forth from the hills and flow down to make glad the land. Though they have their sources in neigh- boring peaks, they flow away in opposite direc- 210 FIRES OF DESIRE tions. From Landour they are seen as silvery ribbons winding away, farther and farther apart. But after their unsisterly parting and wide wan- dering, they meet and mingle their mighty cur- rents in happy union by the city of Allahabad, thence to flow on for many leagues to the sea. From the other side of the hills, looking out to the northeast, are seen the eternal snows. Un- trodden by the foot of man or beast, thrust by the uplifted fingers of the mountains against the sky, they lie in spotless whiteness. ' The Snows! ' Beautiful always, whether cold in the gray light of a cloudy day; or brilliant in the splendor of the sun at meridian, or blushing rosy- red beneath the kisses of the sunset, or sleeping under the sheen of the full-moon's silvery efful- gence. Across the lower summits and vales, all clad in living green, the snow-mantled monarchs of the Himalayas rise peak above peak, from glory unto glory, until they are lost in the dis- tance far, far away. Such is Landour. To that bit of Paradise, high and uplifted, Radha had been brought in safety by her two friends. The cottage that opened its hospitable doors to receive them clung to the hillside, looking out to the west. From its wide veranda could be seen to the southward all the glories of the Dun. Westward, majestic hills FIRES OF DESIRE 211 stood out before them. The house was the sum- mer home of an elderly widow and her daughter. Two rooms, with bathroom and small dressing- room opening off one of them, were put at the dis- posal of the three young women. They were the only guests. Radha was weary enough to need to rest as soon as tiffin was over. The various trunks and bags and bundles of the party had arrived. They had been brought up the steep road tied to the backs of coolies. It took but a few moments to get out enough bedding to make the girl com- fortable. Worn by her journey, but soothed by the quiet, and refreshed by the pure cool air, she soon fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. The other ladies busied themselves with their luggage, unpacking and putting things away. It requires a considerable equipment for a sojourn in the hills. That region is no exception to the general rule that the traveler must always sup- ply bedding in India, whether boarding or visit- ing friends. Pillows, blankets, sheets, pillow- cases, must always be carried. In some sections of the country, even a thin mattress must be added to the things necessary. Then, the warmth of midday in the hottest months, makes thin clothing enjoyable, whilst the cool evenings and damp days of rain call for heavy garments. Thus 212 FIRES OF DESIRE the three ladies had a formidable array of posses- sions to dispose of. But while their patient slept, Mabel and Esther moved swiftly and quietly about until they had arranged everything in the room to their satisfaction. Before tea-time they were comfortably settled and ready for rest and enjoyment. A servant soon called at the door to know whether they would take tea in their rooms, or with their hostess and her daughter. " Let us join the others," said Esther, " Radha is sleeping soundly." In the pretty drawing-room they found the other members of the household awaiting them. The dainty tea-table was spread with wafers and cake and tea. Esther Emmett had been with good Mrs. Kyland the summer before, and was thoroughly at home. " I don't see how I ever used to live through the day without afternoon tea," she declared. " The Americans certainly don't know what they miss by not being tea drinkers," said Mrs. Ryland. " Besides being so refreshing," added her daughter, " tea is such a good thing to draw people together and break up formality." " Someone was saying last year, when it was remarked that all Landour comes together over FIRES OF DESIRE 213 the teacups, that the favorite song of ' Saint's Rest ' should be * Blest be the tea that binds,' ' said Esther, laughingly. " Oh, Dr. Emmett," Miss Ryland exclaimed after a moment, " you must see our new curiosity. We have here this season the famous Mr. Lock- land, and all the ladies are wild over him." " Where is he from, and what is he famous for? " asked Esther. " He is just out from England this last winter," answered Miss Ryland. " As for his fame that seems due to some meetings he has held at home and here in the interests of some kind of sancti- fication. He has peculiar views." " What is he like? " asked Mabel. " Oh, he's a tall, fair Englishman, who dresses rather elaborately, and has very pleasing man- ners," was the reply. " And the ladies are fond of him, are they? " asked Esther. " Very," said Miss Ryland, then she laughed. " What is it? " enquired Esther. " Why, it is such fun to see your special friend, Miss Best, with him. She is his devoted slave, though she must be twice his age." " You don't mean to tell me Miss Best has noticed a man!" cried Esther delightedly. 214 FIRES OF DESIRE " Then she has at last descended to earthly things." " I have no doubt she thinks him heavenly ; besides she is always talking to him of her soul. I think she has made him her father confessor," said Miss Ryland. "What do the men think of Mr. Lockland?" asked Mabel. " Most of them say he is affected, and ' soft ', Miss Ryland answered with some reluctance. But a moment later she added, " Do you know what young Lieutenant Morebrook said of him? He said that if a big caterpillar could stand on its tail and bow and smile it would be a good picture of Mr. Lockland." " Good, good !" cried the other girls. But Mrs. Kyland asumed a tone and look of reproof and said, " Annie." " I didn't say it," protested her daughter. " I wouldn't repeat such things," declared the mother, bent upon maintaining discipline. " Well," said Miss Ryland as they finished their tea, " you may both see the gentleman for yourselves tomorrow, for I have invited a few friends here for the afternoon." That evening Radha and her two friends en- joyed the luxury of chatting together before a wood fire. It was cool enough to make it neces- FIRES OF DESIRE 215 sary for the newcomers from the plains. The Bengali girl seemed much stronger after her good rest, and was able to go out to the dining-room for dinner. They were all ready to retire at an early hour, however. After parching in the heat below and trying to sleep under waving punkahs it was delightful to undress by a fire, and sleep under blankets once more. They were up betimes in the morning, and out in the deliciously cool air. Radha was not capa- ble of much walking, but could accompany her friends wherever they chose to tramp, by being carried in a light dandy by two coolies. They went up to the road, determined to go ' around the big chakkar,' as circling the hill was termed in Anglo-Indian. They would also get a view of the snows, if no mist intervened. Passing around the south side of the hill they feasted their eyes upon the Dun. In the slant light of the rising sun it was dappled over with an almost infinite variety of green, indicating the different kinds of trees and growing crops. At intervals, small streams and lakes reflected the light. From little villages and hamlets, smoke was rising in graceful columns and floating away on the gentle breeze. Just after passing the English Church the ladies stopped beneath a wide-spreading oak tree, and stood silently leaning against the fence. 216 FIRES OF DESIRE At their feet the mountain shot down precipi- tately. Among the trees of valleys and lesser hills were numerous cottages. The peaceful scene, stretching far away before their eyes, called a reverent hush upon their spirits. Moving on, at length, up the gently rising road, they came to its highest point. There the road branches off, to run around the two small chak- kars, on the one hand, and to continue the circuit of the big hill, on the other. Upon a knoll to the right stands the soldiers' guardhouse and jail; up the road to the left is the large stone theater. The theater then served the double purpose of a place of amusement for the soldiers during the week, and a place of worship on Sundays for sol- diers and others who were not members of the Church of England. Since then, the handsome Memorial Church that stands upon a spur of the hill facing the guardhouse has been built. But just between the two hills, the road passes along where the mountain shoots down many feet, al- most a sheer precipice. From the edge of that sharp declivity, across the valley and a wide stretch of intervening mountains, may be seen the snowy ranges in all their beauty. There, leaning on the strong fence that the Government has built everywhere that the road skirts the cliffs, the three young women looked out upon the unri- FIRES OF DESIRE 217 valed glories of the spotless hills. To Radha and Mabel, it was the first view of the snows. They both uttered little exclamations of delight as the vision broke upon them. " It is the city of the New Jerusalem adorned as a bride for her bridegroom," cried Radha, thinking of a passage she had read at her devo- tions that morning. " Yes," said Mabel, lt I can almost think those two loftiest peaks are the ' gates of pearl ' swung open to admit to the celestial city." When they continued their walk, it was along the road around the big hill that afforded a view of the snows till they passed the cemetery. Be- fore it, Radha called to her coolies to halt. The restful beauty of that peaceful city of the dead appealed to the girl. It rises terrace above ter- race to the top of the mountain, and every ter- race is dotted with white monuments, embowered in trees and flowers. " Oh, how beautiful to sleep there among the flowers in the sight of the snow mountains," she murmured. " Surely when the Lord of life comes through the gates of pearl to awaken all who sleep, He will come here first." Passing on, they came to parts of the road that wound in and out among trees whose branches interlaced above their heads. They 218 FIRES OF DESIRE found the wild roses in bloom. Some of the bushes had clambered high up into tall trees. There the white blossoms crowned the heads of the supporting trees so thickly that they looked snow-covered. Radha could not be content until she had her lap full of the flowers. Then dex- terously avoiding, or skillfully breaking off the thorns, she wove the stems together into wreaths and garlands. At last they completed the circuit and de- scended to Rest Cottage in time for a bountiful breakfast. It had been a morning ramble full of delight to them all, and a foretaste of many such mornings and evenings to follow. That afternoon brought to the cottage Mr. Lockland, Miss Best, and several other couples for tea, conversation and games. Miss Ryland pointed out Mr. Lockland as he came swinging down the hillside. He was a well-built young man with a fine color in his cheeks, and he was arrayed in a light gray suit, blue striped shirt, and flaming red tie and socks. "Does he always dress so strikingly?" asked Mabel. " Yes, not always the same colors, but some combination equally as noticeable," said Miss Ryland. " How swell," exclaimed Esther in a shrill FIRES OF DESIRE 219 whisper. Then while they were admonishing her to be quiet, lest the man should hear her, she quoted ' Oh, the several colors 1 he wears, where- in he flourisheth changeably every day.' Then she was shaking hands with Miss Best, and gravely bowing to Mr. Lockland as he was presented. The other friends soon arrived, and in a few minutes they were all happily chatting and drinking tea. Oddly enough, Mr. Lockland seemed drawn toward Esther Emmett from the first. Although there were no brighter girls present, there were certainly some who were pret- tier, and more anxious to please the young man. He took a seat beside Esther, and engaged her in conversation. When it was proposed that the company repair to the compound for tennis and badminton, he kept his place and tried to hold Esther to the discussion of some serious question he had raised. " See here," she cried at length, " are you not going out to play? Let us join the others." " Ah, no," he responded, " I came out to India for the spiritual good of the people here. Game playing is of the world." " You don't mean to say it is wrong to play badminton?" she asked in amazement. " It is too frivolous an occupation for those FIRES OF DESIRE who have been separated to the great work of the Lord," he replied solemnly. " But the Bible says ' bodily exercise is profit- able/ urged Esther. " Only that it may contrast it with the god- liness which is truly profitable." " St. Paul, though, constantly draws many of his stirring illustrations from the ancient games," she insisted. " That is but to fix our minds on the spiritual contest which must occupy all our time," the man explained. " Now, Mr. Lockland," said the girl with some impatience, " you know very well we all need recreation and exercise." " Let it be had apart from worldly pleasure then," said Lockland, dogmatically. " Oh, it's the pleasure you object to, is it? " Then she added, " That reminds me of what has been said of the Puritans they opposed bear- baiting, not because it hurt the bears, but because it gave pleasure to the people." " Our pleasure should be in the work of the Lord," he rejoined. " Tea-drinking, chit-chat with the ladies, and gay apparel," said the girl maliciously, letting her eyes rest on his scarlet cravat, and then fall FIRES OF DESIRE 221 to the flaming socks that protruded below his turned-up trousers. " Really, Miss Emmett," he said, flushing, " these things are spiritually discerned, and I do not care to argue with you, you know. I shall surely have to send you my tract on ' The Separated Missionary '." "If you do I shall surely not read it," said Esther, laughing, but provoked at the imputation of carnality. Thereupon she excused herself and went out to enjoy the games with the others. Young Lockland was annoyed, no less by the unusual experience of having a young lady choose tennis to his company, than by the novel ordeal of having his position ably attacked. Usually people listened to his cant with but feeble opposi- tion. They did not find it convenient to practise what he preached. But their sense of imperfec- tion in their own lives made them often think he was perhaps right. Like all such men, he thought argument unwise only when he began to get the worst of it. He was succeeding in making him- self Pharisaical, and some others unhappy by proclaiming an unattainable perfection. But his cant was in the mind rather than merely in word. He was self-deceived rather than a hypocrite. It made it more difficult to convince him of his error, but it left more of a man there to convince. 222 He was young yet, and might come to a saner and more consistent state of mind. Esther's withdrawal left him with Mrs. Ryland and Miss Best. The former was graciously act- ing the hostess for the guests within the house, whilst her daughter looked to those outside. Miss Best was properly shocked at the way Esther had treated the saintly youth. She drew near to comfort him, and to question him con- cerning some of her own deep spiritual ex- periences. Mrs. Ryland never said anything about it, but her eyes twinkled as she saw Lock- land's gaze wander from the face of the woman who was laying bare her soul for his inspection, and follow with admiration the graceful move- ments and brilliant playing of the ' carnally minded' Esther. When the guests were all leaving, the young man told Esther he would be very pleased to call upon her if he might. " Do call," she said graciously. But she add- ed roguishly, " Don't come when you are in a very spiritual frame of mind, for then you would have to be ' spiritually discerned,' and there is no hope that I could see you." He came, however, as often as he dared. Nor was his conversation always of the ' separated missionary.' It was some weeks later that he came upon Dr. FIRES OF DESIRE 223 Emmett one day on the road from Mussooree. She had walked down in the morning and taken two little boys with her from a neighboring cot- tage. They had a fine time together in the shops and bazars, and the boys had been bountifully treated to native sweetmeats, and channa, or parched grain. They each also had a cheap French harp. As they were going back, just when they began the stiff climb up the steepest part of the way, a sudden shower poured down. Esther took her little friends under the shelter of a great tree where they sat down upon some rocks. There she became so interested in playing a French harp for the boys that she was unmindful of the rain which was gradually soaking them all. In her lap were heaped the sweets and channa, and the rain was making a sugary solu- tion of the former. Before her were the two boys dancing with all their might, while she executed a lively jig upon the mouth organ. Near by, squatted a group of admiring coolies, laughing and shouting " Bahut kushi babalog! Happy chil- dren !" Then Esther came to herself and saw Mr. Lockland looking at her. He was panoplied with mackintosh and umbrella, and looked the picture of neatness. The young woman would have been less human 224 FIRES OF DESIRE than the man thought he was, had she not re- sented being seen in such a predicament. But she laughed and told the children they must all hurry home now that they were wet. In spite of her protests, she soon found herself wrapped in Lockland's mackintosh, the children trudging ahead with his umbrella, while he walked beside her with the rain washing red streaks from his tie down his shirt front. Just how it happened will never be known, but somewhere on that upward march the young man offered Esther Emmett his heart, and begged her to share his life. The surprise was so great, her sense of the ludicrous in the whole situation so keen, and her chagrin at being seen in so ridi- culous a plight so real, that the girl could hardly take the offer seriously or treat her wooer with proper consideration. But she managed to refuse him with womanly dignity and kindness. She could not help telling Mabel about it as she sat with her and Radha before the fire listen- ing to the pelting rain. "Could you not love him, my sister?" asked Radha. Esther declared that she could not. Then she talked of all that a man must and must not be if she was ever to marry him. Certainly her ideal, FIRES OF DESIRE 225 as thus set forth, was very different from Mr. Lockland. ' Methinks the lady doth protest too much, ' Mabel was quoting to herself. She had heard other girls talk. She would wait and see. Radha was musing, and repeating some lines from a noted writer of her own land, ' She whom I love, loves another, and the other again loves another, while another is pleased with me. Ah, the tricks of the god of love ! ' 226 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER XIII A SHADOWY VALE AND BEYOND ABLE to be much out of doors, and interested in the flowers and scenery about her, Kadha had gained strength at Landour. Mentally, her im- provement was less marked. She was interested in more things, but practically nothing of her past life was recalled, and her thought centered about the anticipated return of her lover. All her conversation and musings took their hue from that hallucination. It was pathetic, but it was after all a merciful delusion. Dr. Emmett was well pleased with the girl's improvement. She had hopes that Eadha's increased strength would carry her through a crisis she was approaching, and that beyond it her mental derangement would pass off. Meanwhile the rains had begun. They were not as continuous and heavy as usual, which led to some apprehension as to what might be going on down on the plains. But the mountains had FIRES OF DESIRE 227 taken on a richer and more varied beauty, and the glories of cloudland and sunset were wonder- fully enhanced. On all the hillsides near the set- tlement, dahlias had sprung up in bewildering profusion. Abounding in almost every variety of color and shade, they clothed the hill-slopes with variegated brilliancy. Rich green moss was spread over the soil and out-cropping rocks. Hiding away among the trees and bushes countless daintily-tinted orchids were modestly blooming. Everywhere there were ferns of all kinds. They came out of the crevices of the rocks, they grew thickly through the woods, they sprang, as if by magic, from the bark of all the trees. Nothing more uniquely beautiful could be imagined than the majestic trees with the upper side of every bough clothed with delicately fashioned ferns, while from the under side of the branches hung long festoons of moss. ' The murmuring pines and the hemlocks Bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.' Thus Mabel had quoted when she first saw them so arrayed, thinking of a note from the sweet singer of her own native land. 228 FIRES OF DESIRE Surpassing the wonders of the fairyland about them, were the indescribable splendors of the heavens above them. The sunsets went beyond Mabel's wildest dreams of what she had thought possible. Sometimes she and Radha looked west- ward from the Dun side of the first small chak- kar, and saw all the sky a mass of burnished brass before which the intervening mists seemed a rain of molten gold. Again, the clouds would lie along the horizon in fantastic forms, among which the girls imagined they could descry moun- tains and frowning castles, about which all man- ner of fabled genii contended. One evening, in particular, the two friends stood looking out upon the ravishing beauties of the view until night closed about them. At first, below the sun hung clouds of inky blackness, whilst far off to the south were others white as milk. Above the sinking ball of fire was a kalei- doscopic picture with every tint of color, and every fanciful form that the Divine Artist can paint with a sunbeam upon a canvas of cloud. Yellow and orange, and pink and red, and blue and green, and purple and mauve all were there, mingling their glories from horizon to zenith. Each moment the watchers were sure the climax of glory had been reached ; but the next, the swift changes had brought a more bewildering com- FIRES OF DESIRE 229 bination of color. Far away across the Siwaliks they saw the Jumna. But it seemed to be of the sky rather than of the earth as it flowed beneath the sunset light, a river of liquid fire. Radha was softly singing to herself as she watched it ' Like a river glorious Flows God's perfect peace.' At length the last beams faded from the west. Then there shone in the sky a single bright lamp, the evening star. As the two friends turned to go, they saw through the darkness that was thick upon the lower hills, the many twinkling lights of Mussooree. It seemed that the sky had been in- verted, or that they looked upon a sea whose every wave had imprisoned a trembling star. There was another evening when Mabel, Esther and Radha stood upon the topmost terrace of the peaceful cemetery, watching the sunset reflected from the snowy ranges eastward. So lofty are those distant peaks that the watchers were in deep shadow long before the last rosy tints faded from the snow. As Radha looked, her compan- ions noticed she was smiling brightly and mur- muring softly to herself, but they did not vex her with questions. She gazed in rapt attention up- on the white hills bathed in the golden light re- 230 FIRES OF DESIRE fleeted from the sunset skies. With eager in- terest she watched the light rise higher, higher, higher till its last faint glow faded from the sum- mit of the highest peak and left all gray and cold in the dusk. Then she laughed aloud and clapped her hands gleefully. " Do you know," she said, turning upon her friends eyes that were full of happy tears, " I have had a vision, and it called back to me one of long ago. Once from the terrace of my Calcutta home I saw in the sunset a prophecy of my lover's life. But while I was rejoicing in its beau- ty, a black cloud was flung across it to mar it all. Then I cried myself to sleep with grief and fear for him. To-night, though, the vision has come again, and naught has darkened it. Did you not see how the light was more and more glorious, until at last it faded away and left noth- ing but the pure white snow? So will my lover's life be at the end." Mabel turned away as Radha spoke, and Esther was smiling bitterly and regretfully as she linked her arm in that of her little friend and said " Well, dearie, we must go home now." Upon another day they all three sat on the broad veranda of their cottage. It had been a day of pain to little Radha, and she was not able to go out. But she was suffering less, though feel* FIRES OF DESIRE 231 ing weak as the day closed. Across the valley just before them, and stretching away to distant western hills, a curtain of mist and cloud inter- cepted the view of points beneath them. When the sun began to sink behind the hills, it threw over them a mantle of purple edged about with gold along the serrated sky-line. Then the clouds upon which they looked down were transformed into a golden pavement, while a pathway of light stretched straight away to the sinking sun. " Ah, my sisters," said Badha in a voice whose music had grown sad from pain, " if my lover would only come for me now, we might go across the pavement of gold in this pathway of light to the land where no sorrows can enter." "Never mind, girlie," said Esther cheerily, " you will not have many more days like this. You must stay in this land with us and be happy." Her voice broke, though, as she thought how little happiness the future probably held in . store for her friend. In their sitting-room there hung a picture that they noticed Radha studying intently for several days. She seldom went out any more, and the picture hung just where she could see it while sitting near the fire looking out the window. It was a copy of Naujok's well-known painting of St. Cecilia, looking up from her organ upon 232 FIRES OF DESIRE the vision of the three beautiful cherubs who were showering flowers upon her. It had been a bright day, and Radha had been very free from pain. She had talked more cheer- fully than for a long time. Mabel had brought her flowers which she had woven into garlands for the lover who was surely coming soon. When they were sitting together in the gloaming, she told her friends of what she had been thinking while watching the picture. " With looking at the picture and with think' ing of all that will be when my lover comes to take me home to be happy with him always, I saw a vision. I will tell you what it spoke to me." The two friends came and sat before her to en- courage her in her story. Such recitals were usually too pathetic to be enjoyable, especially to Mabel. But it amused and helped the girl to think them and to tell them. " We are ready to hear," Esther said, and Radha then began. " Long, long ago the good St. Cecilia went one day into her chapel to worship God with song and organ. Very beautiful she looked in the soft light that came through the richly stained win- dows. Her face seemed to shine with an inner light, and a halo of glory shone round about her FIRES OF DESIRE 233 head, as her wonderful voice rose upon the notes of the organ, and rang through the chapel. Even unto the gathering of the shades of evening she sat and sang, unmindful of the flight of the hours. Ever more rapturous became the music of organ and of voice as she poured forth the adoration and praise of her soul. " Far away in the Celestial Country, bright troops of cherubs were playing amid the flowers of the fields of God. From near and far the music of the angelic choirs rang. Suddenly, three of the beautiful little beings, wandering far from their fellows in search of blossoms most rare, caught the strains of distant music. Lis- tening intently, they found in the music a new, glad beauty that seemed sweeter than the notes of the familiar choruses of heaven. After bark- ening long, they looked into each other's eyes, and then with pretty nods of their wise little heads, they gathered their arms full of wondrous flowers, and sped down through space in search of the song and the singer. " They entered the chapel in the twilight hours. Drawing near to the singer, they showered down upon her and the keys of her organ their fra- grant burden of heaven-grown flowers. The good saint looked upon them; her song died upon her lips; her hands forgot to touch the ivory keys; 234 FIRES OF DESIRE the music was gone. When ceased the sounds that drew them from their home on high, the cherubs smiled upon the wondering saint, and then sped away through the gathering night. Pondering much within her what might be the meaning of the vision vouchsafed to her, Cecilia fell upon her knees in prayer. " It was many years thereafter. A Maiden in an Eastern land was touched one day by the hand of love. Amid bowers of living green, she was bound by garlands of flowers to the one who was her Beloved. As she went forth with him whom her soul loved, a song of love welled up from her heart and filled all her being with music. And ever she lived from that day among flowers, while the song in her heart never died, but grew sweeter, and the light in her eyes was the won- drous shining of love's lamps. " There was a day when the glad notes of that song reached to the very gates of heaven. Its music fell upon the ears of the three bright cherubs who erstwhile had barkened to the sing- ing of the beautiful Cecilia. Again they paused in their sport amid the flower-studded meadows of the land of glory. With long listening, there grew in them the wish to see the Singer and hear more of the song. So down the happy trio once more sped to this far world. FIRES OF DESIRE 235 " They found the Singer waiting upon the mountain top until her Beloved should come to her again. Nor work nor worship ever gave pause to the song. It was the music of the heart, bubbling forth from fountains of love. When the bright visitors drew very near and the Singer looked up and saw them, the song did not die. To her it was a vision of joys yet to be. The love- light deepened in her eyes, the song burst forth with a new note of joy. Those little beings from the bright realms above were coming to dwell with her as the crown of love. " ' Shall we go or shall we stay? ' they ques- tioned one another when they found the music did not falter or cease. " Then the foremost of the cherubs pondered long, and thus replied, * Not all must stay, nor all must go. But while you two go back, I will remain. And when I creep close to the Singer's heart, if she sing with a rapture unknown be- fore, then will I learn to sing this song. You must wait and listen till you hear me sing, then must you come again.' So two took their flight, whilst one remained. " The mystery of the coming of that celestial life close to the heart of the Singer who knew? But the music rose the sweeter from the life of the Singer, till the cherub thrilled responsive to 236 FIRES OF DESIRE its chords. Whereupon the Singer said, ' I will tarry on the mountains 'mid the flowers and the sunshine till the heavens open round me in the bliss of motherhood. " And the vision ran before her until the future opened to her view. She saw the coming of a day when her Beloved was with her to depart no more. She heard within her home the laughter of the little one who had come from on high. By little and by little, he had learned to sing the song. 11 Thus together did they sing, until the listen- ing cherubs looked into each other's eyes and said, * It is time to go.' " So the light of mother-love deepened once more in the Singer's eyes as they drew near. " l Ah, I must stay and learn this song too,' said the second little cherub, as he beheld the joy of his former comrade, and heard the music ring. " * Be it so,' was the response, < and if the Singer's heart sing on, and you, too, can sing with joy this song, then I will return full soon." " And it was so, with the unfolding of the years that the three little beings who of old had visited the good St. Cecilia dwelt always in the home of the Singer of love's song. From morn till night they scattered flowers in the way of the Singer and her Beloved, and anew did they bind FIRES OF DESIRE 237 them together with garlands, whilst ever the song arose from all their hearts." Radha paused and flashed her bright eyes up- on her friends. " Is it not a pretty vision I have seen in the picture? " she asked. " Yes, dear," replied Esther in a choking voice. Mabel had fled to the other room and was sob- bing convulsively with her face buried in her pillow. In the night, the little feet that had been so torn by the thorns as they walked amid the roses of life's pathway, went down and down until they touched the margin of the river of death. There Radha wrestled with the Angel of Life and would not let him go until he blessed her. So at the breaking of the day he blessed her, though he left her sore stricken and almost dead. But they laid upon her breast the jewel that every Indian woman so longs to wear, and the patient sufferer smiled as she heard the soft breathing of her little son. The light of holy joy that shone from the little mother's eyes seemed to make the birth-chamber a shrine, and the watchers thought of Bethlehem. Radha remembered everything then. She looked wistfully into Mabel's face and seeing only love there, she smiled and gently stroked her 238 FIRES OF DESIRE tiand. She made no inquiries, and uttered no complaints. But the way had been too long and hard for the little pilgrim and her babe. On the third day it was apparent that they were journey- ing on to a fairer land. It had been a black, rainy day. The Doctor knew there was light not far ahead for Radha. She knew it too. She called Mabel to her and asked her forgiveness for having unwittingly come between her and her happiness. Then she made Mabel promise she would write to Frank and tell him Radha forgave him all, and said he must not let it spoil his life. "It was all a mistake," she said, " just a ter- rible mistake." The clouds were scattering in the west as the hour of sunset drew near. A narrow beam of light stole into the room. The Doctor took her hand off the breast of Radha's child. The little heart had stopped. " I am going home to Father now," said Radha. " When he went away he said the Lord had called him to help his own people in that land his people who had not walked far in the way here. He will help me get all the tangles out of my life. The Saviour will let him, I know." A little later she asked Mabel to sing to her. FIRES OF DESIRE 239 " Sing ' Immanuel's Land.' Father and I loved it and sang it together." It was hard, but strength came with the effort, and Mabel's rich contralto voice filled the room with mellow music. 1 The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven breaks, The summer morn I've sighed for The fair sweet morn awakes. Dark, dark has been the midnight, But day spring is at hand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.' Radha's face was tearful, yet radiant, as the hymn told of the trials of life and its failures, but also of the satisfying Christ. Dr. Emmett laid the babe beside the mother as Mabel was singing the last verse. ' Deep waters crossed life's pathway, The hedge of thorns was sharp ; Now these lie all behind me Oh for a well tuned harp ! Oh to join Hallelujah With yon triumphant band, Who sing where glory dwelleth, In Immanuel's land.' As the last notes died away the sun broke through the clouds and shot its level beams into 240 FIRES OF DESIRE the room. Radha smiled brightly and motioned to have her babe laid upon her breast. " Baby dear," she said, and she spoke in Ben- gali as she folded her little one in her arms, " it is time for us to go now, for the light is shining to show us the way, and Father is waiting yon- der." And so along the shining pathway of the set- ting sun, the little mother and her babe passed on to Immanuel's Land. In the highest spot of the topmost flower-clad terrace of the beautiful resting-place of those who sleep, with her babe upon her breast, they laid her away the next afternoon. At a later time there stood among the flowers a simple white shaft looking out across the wide valley to the heights that are clad in eternal snow. Upon a tablet which bore a name and a date, there was written besides ' SHE HATH LOVED MUCH.' If, as Radha once fancied, the Lord of Life shall come to that city of the dead which lies up- on the mountain top, surely the feet that were anointed of old by the woman who loved, and that were later nailed to the cruel cross for the sake of all who err, will carry Him first to the spot where the mother and the young child lie. FIRES OF DESIRE 241 CHAPTER XIV HEAVENS OF BRASS AND EARTH OF IRON MABEL and Esther were at Mungalpore again. Their journey thither had been through a land of desolation. The rainy season was over, and there had been no rain. From the summer's intense heat the earth was baked and cracked open. All vegetation was dead. Plowing had been useless, even if it had been possible. To sow seed which, could not germinate or grow would have been sheer waste of grain and energy. Everywhere the bare and hard-baked earth spelled one dread word Famine. On the blank and hopeless faces of the people was written a companion word Death. The Government had begun prompt and far- reaching measures to help the wretched people of the stricken areas. Later, Christian philan- thropy was to send rich stores of grain and money from many lands. Missionaries and famine relief agents were to give themselves with- 242 FIRES OF DESIRE out stint to the fight against starvation. Yet directly and indirectly, Famine was to destroy more than a million people before its ravages were stayed. Everybody acquainted with the conditions of life in India knew from the first how it would be before the next monsoon could end the drought. It was not to be expected that the farmers would have any reserve to draw upon, in a land where the average annual income does not exceed eight dollars. Ignorant critics elsewhere might talk of the want being due to thriftlessness and prodi- gality. Intelligent people knew that no amount of frugal industry could avert suffering in any country where there was a total failure of all crops, and a scarcity of water for men and cattle throughout whole provinces. Much less, then, could misery be avoided in India where all the masses live on the verge of pauperism continually, and where about eighty million people never know what it is to get enough to eat from birth to burning ghat. All along their journey from the hills the ladies had seen evidences of suffering already begun. Crowds of men and women were about the rail- way stations, striking with open palms upon their bare, empty stomachs 1 , and beseeching aid. The gods, the Government, the white-faced Sahiblog FIRES OF DESIRE 243 these were their refuge. At first they were dis- posed to regard the Government as a kind of angry foreign god who had withheld the rain in order to starve the people and get so many lakhs of livers, or so much grease from their bones. Their priests taught them so, for the priests were as ignorant as the people, and were crafty besides. But their gods did not seem much in evidence in any relief measures. Neither did their wealthy fellow-countrymen who worshiped those gods. After all, the Sircar, the Government, was proving a mighty god, and aiding no little. The white people, too, seemed both rich and kind. Especially were the missionaries proving friends in the time of need. It would do no harm to call on their gods, but for practical, everyday pur- poses, the Sahiblog were surer and more promis- ing refuges. Hence they were everywhere beset. Dr. Emmett and her friend had their hearts wrung many times by what they heard and saw along the way. Many villages were deserted, the people having fled to larger towns and famine re- lief camps. Occasionally, little children were discovered crying beside their dead parents, who had fallen by the way in their too tardy flight. Again, ghastly skeletons or partly consumed bodies were noticed where they had lain down to 244 FIRES OF DESIRE be food for jackals and vultures. The harvest of death was the only harvest to be garnered that year. It had begun in earnest already. The young women had been heart-sick at the begin- ning of their journey over the loss of their friend. By the time they reached home, they were well- nigh worn out from sympathy with the starving myriads of the land. Arrived at Mungalpore, they found themselves at the heart of the famine-stricken district. The sights that had distressed them along the way were now at their very door, day and night. But there was a difference, it was now possible to throw themselves into the work of relief. Thus there was an escape from their overwrought feel- ings which the girls were not slow to avail of and appreciate. The medical skill of Dr. Emmett was in con- stant demand. Mabel had made good progress in Hindi. She had decided to stay and work for India, for the present at least. So she and her friend gave themselves heart and soul to the work of helping the perishing multitudes about them. The cool season had begun that was a comfort to the workers. Perhaps the winter rains, about Christmas-time, would be copious enough to af- ford some relief. It was not the policy of the Government, or FIRES OF DESIRE 245 of the missionaries, to pauperize the people. They must be fed, but they must also be made to work for their food. The Government could use them in constructing railways and irrigation canals that would help prevent or lessen the evils of droughts in years to come. The missionaries could employ them in building needed bungalows, orphanages, schools and chapels, or in digging tanks and wells. So the people were brought to- gether in large camps where work was needed. Great kitchens were established, where many cooks labored incessantly, cooking rice, and the like, in huge caldrons placed in wide semicircles out of doors about the cook's huts. Thus were millions saved from starvation, while the treas- ure poured out for the purpose was made to do work of enduring benefit to the country. " There is no use talking," announced Miss Best at dinner one evening, "we shall have to put up some buildings and take permanent charge of all these children about here whose parents are dying." No one had been talking, for or against the project. The good lady was merely announc- ing her surrender to a responsibility which she had hoped it would not be necessary for her to assume. " Thank the Lord," cried Dr. Emmett. "I have been at my wits' end to know what to make 246 FIRES OF DESIRE these people do next for their food. I have ex- hausted myself trying to get Ananda Babu to let me put them to enlarging that tank he built several years ago." "What's his objection?" asked Mabel. " Oh, he fears it will spoil the merit he stored up in heaven by building it at his own cost, if he lets us Christians go to improving it. I don't care a piece about his store of merit. I am thinking of the store of water we might have had there if the tank has been larger. But he is inexorable." Next day work was begun near the ladies' bun- galow on a girls' orphanage. At the same time the men in the station undertook the building of a home for boys. While the houses were build- ing an effort was made to gather together all the orphans and deserted children for miles around. There was no dearth of the poor little waifs, though it was not always easy to capture them, or keep them when caught. They had heard blood- curdling tales of what the terrible white-faced gentry would do with them. In mortal terror that their grease would be cooked out the poor starved wretches had no grease left in them or that their livers would be cut out and sent to the great white-faced queen across the black water FIRES OF DESIRE 247 who had caused the famine for that very purpose, they often hid away. Gradually, however, several hundred children were gathered in. Poor little starvelings, the fight with death was then only begun. All but a favored few were terribly diseased from long starvation. Some had stubborn fevers; others coughed up blood continually. Many were covered with boils. Not a few had famine sores eating out their eyes, causing their teeth to fall out, gnawing into their windpipes. The brave young doctor and her faithful assistants worked with them, nothing daunted by their loathsome- ness. Only the weakest and worst cases baffled her skill and ended in death. Miss Best took it greatly to heart that recruits for the boys' orphanage were more numerous than for hers. " I do not understand it," she declared. " Why are boys more available, when we suppose that they are more highly thought of by their relatives and sure to be kept by them if possible. Can it be that the wretched creatures are starving their girls first in order to save the boys? " " I wish that were true," said the doctor rather savagely. " A strange wish, Miss Emmett, for one of your sex," Miss Best remarked severely. 248 FIRES OF DESIRE " I mean what I say," Esther replied. Then she went on with professional bluntness, " Famine is not the only fiend abroad in this land. Girls are harder to get than boys because they are in demand by the agents of the rich natives, and European soldiers and merchants. Those wretch- ed harpies are scouring the country and circulat- ing stories about the cruelties of the missionaries that make the girls flee to them from us. More than that, nearly fifteen per cent, of the girls being rescued have been ruined for life. Many here and elsewhere who are only children are suffering from dread diseases. The misery of it all is wearing out my life. I don't see how God can look on the ills of this land and live." " In all their afflictions He was afflicted." Mabel spoke almost in a whisper. " Oh ! " said Jennie Pierce in an awed voice, " let us work hard to bring the day when He shall see of the travil of His soul, and be satis- fied." The winter rains had come and gone. Mere passing showers, they could do no good in such a parched and thirsty land. They even added to the misery of the people by making them cold and wet. The weeks had worn on till the heat had begun. It came early; it would last long. There was at least hope that at its end the rains would FIRES OF DESIRE 249 come. No one dared think of what would happen if they should not come. Everybody was sleeping out doors to try to keep cool. Beds were set up far enough from the bungalows to escape the heat they radiated all night. Even then it was hard to get cool enough to sleep till nearly morning. Esther and Mabel had their beds side by side under a great clump of bamboos. They liked the shade from the bril- liant moonlight. The natives said the moon would twist their faces if they slept in its light. They were not much afraid of that, but liked to sleep in the shadow of the foliage. All too early their slumbers would be disturbed by the light of day. Caw of crow, and not crow of cock, is what arouses the reluctant sleeper in India. Those ubiquitous, multitudinous, noisy birds are thicker everywhere in India, country and city alike, than English sparrows are in America. The first night she slept out, Mabel was awakened by a pistol shot, followed by a deafening clamor from all the crows in the neighborhood. Starting up and looking wildly about, she saw Esther lying in bed and following up her first shot by a rapid fire into the bevy of birds gathered to hold a post- mortem over their fallen mate. " Sorry I startled you, dear," said the Doctor. 250 FIRES OF DESIRE " I couldn't help it. Those nasty birds perched on the mosquito net frame of our beds and made such a row that I couldn't stand it. They will be more respectful now. Probably they won't give me another shot at them for a long time. I have to teach them manners once in a while." They lay still, watching the noisy birds fly away. " If the Hindus would stop stealing milk the crows might die out " said Esther, with a yawn. "How's that?" asked Mabel. " Oh, the Laws of Manu say that milk-stealers transmigrate into crows," was the reply. The crows had made off, but so had sleep for that morning. Soon day was upon them with its heat and nerve-racking toil. The famine was at its height. All the scanty reserve of the few fortunate farmers was ex- hausted. Driven by extreme want, even the half- wild peoples of the hill country were overcom- ing their fear of the white man and crying to him for aid. It was difficult to get rest from them, day or night. " Hungry souls ! Hungry souls ! " That was the cry which fell upon the ears everywhere. Hard to endure by day when busy endeavoring to relieve the all-encompassing want, it was yet more trying whilst attempting to sleep at night. Worst of all was it at meals to see skeleton hands FIRES OF DESIRE 251 pulling at the window blinds, or parting the vines about the veranda, to catch glimpses of the pain- drawn faces, and to hear that cry, " Hungry souls! Hungry souls!" Yet the workers must rest and eat or there would soon be none alive to help the starving. The sky was like heated brass; the earth was like iron. Tortured by the long drought and ter- rific heat, it cracked asunder into great fissures and yawning chasms. The hot wind, the death- dealing loo, moaned and sighed the livelong day. Caught up by the furnace blast, columns of dust marched to and fro, or whirled and staggered about like drunken giants. At times the sun was blotted from the sky by dust clouds which darkened the land at noontide. Under the piti- less heavens, upon the hard-baked earth, the chil- dren of the land were dying. Mingled with the moan of the hot blast was their cry ' Hungry souls!' Prolonging the shriek of the wind through the withered trees was the wail of the perishing l Ail Ai! Hae! Hae!' It was a lament for the dying, and a requiem for the dead. With what strength they had left the men and women at the mission toiled on, as other mission- aries and Government employees were doing else- where. Two of the force had been obliged to flee to the mountains. One young man had to be 252 FIRES OF DESIRE hurried out of the country. It seemed to Mabel that none of them ever breathed any more, they just gasped for breath. Nor did they eat. They forced unrelished food down their dry throats. And sleep? Ah, no! life was a mad nightmare, day and night. The station had been unexpectedly reinforced early in June. Unheralded save by a brief note to Dr. Emmett, Mr. Lockland arrived one day. He had been at work in south India, and in Ben- gal, unscourged by the famine. Drawn to Mun- galpore by his desire to see Esther, but willing to work, and full of fresh life and vigor, he was not unwelcomed. It is true Esther had not greeted him effusively. She had even said some very ungracious things about the gentleman, when under fire of teasing. He was too busy, however, to obtrude his hobbies; nor was there much danger that he would be offended by any of the jaded missionaries proving too gamesome just then. Though Esther had not yet admitted it, Mr. Lockland was certainly appearing in a better light at Mungalpore than he had at Lan- dour. When provoked one day by her tormentors into sputtering about him in the presence of Mr. Fremont, the veteran of the station, that gentle- man made a very good diagnosis of the case. " My dear/' said the good man, " the lad will FIRES OF DESIRE 253 outgrow all that. The trouble with him, like most such people, is that he takes himself and his notions too seriously. He is too sane a man not to come to himself yet, and live a natural life. Unfortunately he is deficient in a sense of humor. If he had that gift it would save him from many ridiculous positions." Miss Emmett did not say anything. She was not thinking of the young man's diatribes against sports. There had arisen before her a vision of two dripping, bedraggled figures toiling up the steeps of Landour. " Yes, a sense of humor might have prevented one ridiculous blunder, at least," thought she. Meanwhile, the man in question was winning golden opinions from everybody by his cheerful, whole-hearted service. Mabel had never been sure that her friend's decision, once so emphati- cally given, was final. She was watching for new developments. The ladies were trying to eat lunch on the afternoon of the last day in June. It had been the worst of all the bad days. " Never again will I say that Indian summer is my favorite season," said the Doctor. " It used to be in America whenever I could identify it. Out here it is not so vague and uncertain a time." 254 FIRES OF DESIRE " ' What is so rare as a day in June? ' " quoth Mabel with a show of cheerfulness. ' The temper of chums, the love of your wife, or the new piano's tune Which of the three do you care to test at the end of an Indian June ? ' sang Jennie Pierce in a voice none too musical. Then conversation lagged. Eating was even less a success. " The weather has certainly got on the cook's nerves," Miss Pierce complained as she tried in vain to tempt her appetite. " Look at these clammy chapaties. I have heard of bread baked by moonlight on a gravestone. This must be it." " The trouble is not with the cook nor his viands. It is your liver, my dear," said the medi- cal woman. " A poet has said of Gautama's stal- lion l whose liver is a tempest, and his blood, red flame.' That's what is the matter with all of us. If the heat isn't soon turned off, and the water turned on we'll turn to tempest and flame." The tiffin was interrupted by a sudden dark- ness. The sand driving against the windows sounded almost like rain. When the wind lulled, the sky had a peculiar coppery color. Then it changed, little by little, to the blackness of rain clouds. The time that man had longed and FIRES OF DESIRE 255 prayed for through weary months seemed near at hand. Meteorological experts had announced the forming of monsoons -the one, out in the Arabian Sea, the other, in the Bay of Bengal. According to their calculations it was time now for these storms to move inland, and up country. A breathless stillness fell upon the land. Blacker and blacker grew the sky, till the whole heavens were covered by low hanging clouds. Every living thing cowered close to the earth in terror. The heat radiated from the long baked earth seemed caught by the clouds and turned back upon the suffering people. Nerves that had been overwrought for many months felt as though they would snap. Was the end of all things at hand? There came a mighty rush of wind. It licked up the dust and drove it madly along. Instantly, a forked and lurid lightning flash cleft asunder the inky sky from horizon to zenith. Simultane- ously, a terrific peal of thunder reverberated so heavily that the houses shook to their founda- tions then, down rushed the rain in torrents. " Deliverance is come at last ! " cried Mabel, as she and the others who had been peering through the windows rushed out upon the veranda to hear and feel the grateful drops. They stretched their hands out into the rain, and 256 FIRES OF DESIRE laughed and cried by turns. Indoors, beneath the swinging punkahs, to the music of the patter of the rain upon the roof tiles, they slept that night. But the end of the drought was not yet as- sured. The first showers would cease. The clouds would sail away northward. There would be anxious days of waiting. Would the mon- soons scatter and float away as they had done the year before? Or would the great mountains catch them and turn them back to revive the thirsty land? Men could only hope, and pray, and wait. So the work went on. Nerves grew tense once more after their brief relaxation. Though many of the children of the soil had lain down to rise no more, and multitudes had long been receiv- ing help, new recruits, gaunt and hungry, kept crowding in to the relief camps daily. Even if the rains came, it would be many weeks before the farmers could again provide food for them- selves. The clouds were beginning to return, with good promise of rain. Esther was standing out doors one evening with little Clyde Fremont. " Hi !" cried the little chap suddenly, " I felt a drop of rain on my nose." " I didn't," said Esther, with the ready skep- FIRES OF DESIRE 257 ticism which doubts the reality of good things ex- perienced only by others. " Ho I how could you feel it when it was on my nose," retorted the young philosopher. It was not long, however, until all noses be- neath the open heavens could feel the patter of the falling drops. They were the forerunners of abundance of rain. All that night it fell in tor- rents. Throughout the next day, and the next, it seemed to be coming down in sheets rather than drops. For many days it continued thus. Now and again, the hot sun would break through the clouds and set all things a steaming. Little by little the earth grew soft and moist. By and by the hidden seeds that had rested in the dust through the rainless months began to germinate. Then, as if by magic, the barren land was clothed in living green. Once more the desert and waste places were blossoming and blooming as the rose. Men began to breathe freely. The drought was over. The famine would end. 258 FIRES OF DESIRE AN EMERGENCY CALL DIFFICULTIES seemed to thicken with the com- ing of the rains. Instead of keeping the people on the public works, and feeding them at the camps, they had to be sent back to their farms. There they must be provided with seed to put in their crops. They could work but slowly, for they had almost all of them lost their oxen by starvation. Until the harvest could be garnered they must be supplied with food. The herculean labors of the Government relief agents were by no means ended. The mission stations worked upon a smaller scale in more restricted areas. Their tasks were, however, no lighter in proportion to their force and the means at hand. In a number of places orphanages had been established where hundreds of sickly children of all ages were being cared for. All hospitals, dispensaries, and medical FIRES OF DESIRE 259 missionaries were taxed to the utmost by the physical maladies attending the famine. Ex- ceptional opportunities and need were at hand for all kinds of evangelistic effort. Close upon the heels of the rains, came an out- break of cholera. That was the usual order, but the famine made it far worse than common. Certainly nobody at Mungalpore had any oppor- tunity for leisure, least of all, Dr. Emmett. Her hospital was full. The orphanage children need- ed constant medical attention. All sorts of peo- ple sought her aid from near and far. The natives were not the only sick people. She did not spare herself. Her constant occasion for thanksgiving was that she had kept in excellent health. Late one afternoon there came to the Doctor's bungalow a wet and weary messenger. Finding the Doctor was at home he insisted upon seeing her at once. Esther went out upon the veranda to see the man. " Oh, Defender of the Poor," he cried, crouch- ing to the floor and touching the Doctor's shoes, " The Mem Sahib is very sick. The Sahib knows not what to do. Unless you come at once the Mem Sahib will be dead." " What Mem Sahib? " Where is she? " asked the Doctor. 260 FIRES OF DESIRE " It is the Bura Mem, Presence, and she is many miles from here at Munghier." " The Bura Mem at Munghier? Do you mean Dickson Mem Sahib? Is she ill? " Yes, your Honor," replied the man. " It is now five days since the Sahib told me the Bura Mem would be dead of a great fever if I did not bring the Doctor Miss Sahib." " Five days !" cried Esther. " Then why did you not come to me at once? How has it taken you five days to come forty miles?" " Mercy, Defender of the Poor !" The man prostrated himself again. " It is by no fault of mine. I came away at once with all speed. The roads were very deep with mud, but I ran very fast till I came to the river. By reason of the great rains it was very high and swift. It was only to-day that I could get a boat to bring me across. So I am here. But your Honor will be pleased to come at once, or the boatmen may not wait." " I will start as soon as possible. Go to the servants' quarters, and rest and take food." The Dicksons were fellow-missionaries. Their station was off the railroad. The forty miles that lay between them and Mungalpore was over a rough road. Only in the winter could it be traveled with any degree of comfort. During the FIRES OF DESIRE 261 hot season the journey had to be made at night. In the rains the mud made it almost impassable. Then what was at other times a tiny streamlet, or a dry and sandy water course, became a wide river, both deep and swift. George Dickson, his wife and little girl, were the only white people in the place. As the servant had said, Mrs. Dick- son had become seriously ill with fever. There was no medical aid nearer than Mungalpore. The best that could be done was to dispatch a messenger and anxiously await the result. Dick- son well knew how long it might be before the Doctor could get there. That she would come at the earliest possible moment he was certain. " Mabel," said Esther going into the dispensary where her friend was busy, " I have an urgent call that I must answer at once. I may be gone several days." She explained who was ill and how the message had come. " However will you get there, dear? " Mabel queried. " The roads must be dreadful. It is raining again in torrents. In a few hours it will be dark." " I shall go by bullock cart to the river. The man tells me that Mr. Dickson's cart willjbe wait- ing on the other side. It will be slow work though. I only hope we can cross the river safely." 262 FIRES OF DESIRE " But you will surely not go alone." " Yes, I shall with the driver and the messen- ger." " Let me go with you," pleaded her friend. " Nonsense ! I shall do no such thing. You are needed here anyway." The Doctor hurried out to prepare for her journey. Mabel was resourceful. She dreaded the thought of the Doctor's setting out accompanied only by natives. She wrote a little note and dis- patched a servant with orders to find Mr. Lock- land and put it into his hands. She thought she knew that gentleman well enough to be sure that Esther would not lack an attendant upon her long, hard journey. She did not misjudge. Just as Esther stepped into the ghari, Mr. Lockland cantered up to the bungalow, evidently well equipped for a wet ride. Reining in his horse, he peered under the cover of the cart at its occupant. " Whither away at so late an hour on so wet an afternoon?" he asked. " Oh, I'm called to see a sick lady some miles out," answered the girl. " How fortunate that I was starting for a ride just at this time. I hope you will allow me the privilege of accompanying you." FIRES OF DESIRE 263 " Certainly/' replied Esther. "If you can find any pleasure in keeping pace with these animals on such a day as this, it would be cruel to forbid If The driver clucked to his beasts and poked them with the handle of his whip. They moved off at a rather smart trot for such clumsy looking animals. "That's right, Ghulam," said the Doctor. " You must drive just as fast as the road will let you." Conversation between the lady and the horse- man was well-nigh impossible. The curtains of the vehicle were fastened close to keep out the water. The noise of the rain and wheels and hoofs offered a further obstacle. Occasionally, Lockland rode a little ahead, and looking back through the opening at the front of the cart, threw a remark at the lady. " I fear we shall have trouble at the river." He realized he had made a mistake, and checked himself. But the girl had heard him. " How do you happen to know where I am going? " she called to him rather curtly. He bit his tongue and flushed. She was ex- pecting a reply though. " Why I learned from a servant that you were 264 FIRES OF DESIRE going out to Munghier." That was indirectly true. They splashed on in silence again through the mud and driving rain. Suddenly the girl commanded the driver to stop the cart. " Mr. Lockland," she said, putting out her head and addressing the man, " I fear you feel under necessity to accompany me on this unpleasant journey. I cannot allow you to go to so much trouble on my account. I shall get along all right. Let me beg you to return." " Miss Emmett," was the prompt response, " I could not maintain my self-respect as a gentle- man if I should permit any lady to go unattended upon such a journey. Much less, then, can I think of leaving you here." Esther flushed slightly and said no more. They jogged on again. Independent and used to taking care of herself as she was, it was not in the girl's heart to be sorry a man was at hand for emer- gencies that might arise. It was becoming dark. The driver stopped and lighted the lantern swing- ing from the axle of the ghari. Esther addressed her escort. " If you are de- termined to go, Mr. Lockland, you may be of real help if you will ride on to the river and have the FIRES OF DESIRE 265 boatman ready to start when I arrive. That may save a lot of time." " Most willingly," he replied, "only I do not like to leave you alone on this dark road." " I am quite safe and not afraid," the girl de- clared. " Ghulam is altogether trustworthy. I am most anxious to get to Munghier as soon as possible. I fear a life may be at stake." Thus urged, the young man spurred his horse and rode away in the dark. Everything was soon blotted from view by the inky blackness. The rain continued to pour down. But for the aid of an electric flashlight that Lockland had with him, he could not have kept the road. An hour later he reached the river. From afar he had heard the rush of the torrent above the noise of wind and rain. The sound had not reassured him. He saw no boatmen, but found a clumsy, flat- boat drawn up on the river bank. It did not commend itself to him as a very suitable craft for the navigation of such waters. He would find its owners, if possible, and discover what sort of oarsmen they were. " Koi hai! Koi hai! " he called repeatedly. At length there was a muffled answer. A light shone dimly through the door of a hut not far away. Then three men came out to him. Lockland was far from proficient in Hindi. He 266 FIRES OF DESIRE had been in several language areas since coming to India. His special work had been with Euro- peans. He could talk but little, and understood less. His halting inquiries elicited replies whose volubility conveyed to him no idea. By dint of telling the men he knew little of their tongue, and having them repeat things many times, he finally caught the main points of their talk. The water was very great. The river had risen since they crossed, and was continuing to rise. They could not recross until it fell. Their boat would be destroyed. They and the Doctor Miss Sahib would be drowned. Such was their de- cision. Lockland would feign have let the case rest there. He cared to trust neither boat nor boat- men in such a current. Yet he dared not agree with the men. He was under orders. He knew the dauntless spirit of the young woman who thought it her duty to proceed at once. If his speech was not fluent it was forcible. He would give them much money ; he showed them a hand- ful of rupees and some gold. He could row; he would help them. There was great need. The Miss Sahib would go at once to save life. Thus he overbore them, and urged and almost drove them to prepare to cross. As a first step, the men started to build a fire 'Really, you ought not to try to cross tonight in the miserable scow they have here." FIRES OF DESIRE 267 at the water's edge. An opportune abatement of the downpour made it possible. Lockland could not perceive the utility of such a step until he saw an answering light on the distant opposite shore. Then he understood. He hoped that the rain would not begin again and blot out those guiding stars. It might be well to have two fires to depend on. " Make another fire. Make an- other fire," he commanded the men. They demurred, trying to explain that the one they had made was only as a signal to have the guiding blaze kindled on the other side. Lock- land could neither understand their objections, nor make known the reasons for his order. He reiterated his command. The men, with mut- tered maledictions' upon the ' Mad Sahib/ started another fire a little way down the stream. They then had nothing to do but await the arrival of the Doctor. Soon the light of the cart was seen approach- ing. In a few minutes more it had halted near the blazing fires. Lockland hurried forward to assist Miss Emmett to alight. " Really, you ought not to try to cross tonight in the miserable scow they have here. Come to the edge of the water and look and listen." What Esther saw and heard made even her strong heart quail. Even better than the man, she 268 FIRES OF DESIRE knew the perils of trying to cross. Near the banks on each side they might be entangled in the tops of submerged trees. Out in the current, there was danger of collision with huge logs driv- ing swiftly down stream. " I have heard the people about here tell of the wonderful club and rope of the Rakshasi. If one has them, and says, * O stout club ! O strong rope ! Take me at once to the other side ! ' the widest waters can be instantly crossed. I wish we had them here." She spoke with a little nervous laugh. " Do wait till morning, Dr. Emmett," urged the man. " Why rush to almost certain death on the chance of helping a woman who may be much better or dead." It was the wrong kind of appeal to make. The picture of the poor, suffering Mrs. Dickson and her anxious, helpless husband arose before the girl and blotted out the wild waste of waters. It was the physician and not the young woman that spoke next. " I must go on. The water is rising and may be far worse to-morrow. That poor woman was desperately ill five days ago. Let us start." Lockland realized that further words would be useless. He used Esther as interpreter for his directions for the journey. The driver must find FIRES OF DESIRE 269 accommodations for the horse and oxen and wait their return. Dickson's servant must remain on the river bank and keep up the fires until a second fire was seen on the other side. Esther was to sit in the bow of the boat with the flash- light, and look out for danger. One boatman would manage the rudder. The other two would pull one pair of oars. Lockland would take the other pair himself. So they took their places in the clumsy craft and pushed off. For the first few yards, all went well. Then they got among the half submerged trees, and, later, among the tree tops. The native oarsmen became excited. They could not pull together, much less with Lockland. The Englishman's effort to give them orders only increased their confusion. At Esther's suggestion he adopted the plan of giving his commands in English and letting the girl interpret them. But they con- tinued to foul their oars. Even the steersman lost his head and fumbled with the rudder in an imbecile way. In a little while, they stuck in a tree top where some driftwood had already lodged. The crew then threatened to mutiny. They would go no further. Lockland thought that not improbable from the way the boat was caught. He wisely forbore to argue with them until they 270 FIRES OF DESIRE should get free. Notwithstanding hard work skilfully directed, it took twenty minutes to ex- tricate themselves. Meanwhile the rain had be- gun to pour down steadily again. The men were for putting the boat about. Esther insisted on proceeding, so Lockland threatened to knock overboard the first man who should disobey him. So they sullenly set to work once more. They seemed clear of the trees. Esther was helping the oarsmen pull together by marking time for them. But to look out for floating tim- bers and continue her sing-song directions was a problem in double attention beyond her powers. There was soon a collision with a great log that unseated the passengers and nearly upset the boat. All three of the natives sprang to their feet with cries of terror. The boat whirled around like a top, and started down stream. When commands and threats got the wretched boatmen quiet again, it was found they had lost both their oars. Esther was always sure that Lockland then growled out words not lawful for man to utter. In the emergency he decided to make a change in the disposition of his crew. He assisted Esther to the helmsman's seat, for she had kept cool and could be trusted. The man who had steered was sent to the bow as lookout. The other two were told to keep quiet where they FIRES OF DESIRE 271 were and look sharply about them. Lockland would do the rowing. By that time, they were far out of their course. The heavy rain had drenched them. Worse than that, it had either drowned the signal fires, or they were now too far away to be seen. There remained nothing for it, but to pull obliquely against the stream, in the hope of making a landing somewhere. The craft was heavy and the current was 1 strong, but Lock- land's former training in his college boating crew stood him in good stead. His powerful strokes were driving them somewhere through the dark- ness. " Shout," he ordered the men after a time. They did so right lustily. There was no re- sponse. " Friends probably went home after it got too wet for the fires," Lockland commented, and pulled on. " Get up and wave the light," he commanded the man at the bow, a little later. There was no answering signal. " Everybody in the ghastly country asleep or drowned," muttered the oarsman. Repeated calls and signals, from time to time, finally were rewarded by an answering shout at some distance ahead. That was encouraging, and the young man redoubled his efforts. 272 FIRES OF DESIRE Then there was a mighty crash. It was fol- lowed by another, and another. The man stand- ing in the bow disappeared overboard. The boat was being crushed among a lot of floating logs. " Jump ! Swim !" Lockland shouted to the two remaining men. " The beastly craft is done for, Miss Emmett," he said. " We must get out of it." In a moment they were both in the water. The man had thrown one arm over a log. With the other he was holding up the girl. " I can swim," said the Doctor. "Not with all your wet clothing, and not among these logs," he answered. " We better keep by this log for protection from others. We'll see what will happen directly." Someone was shouting ahead at no great dis- tance. Whether it was one of the men in the water, or somebody on the shore, could not be told. But the current was not very swift, so they must be nearing the banks. Suddenly Lockland uttered a cry of pain an'd relaxed his hold upon the log. His arm had been caught and crushed by another log. As the log floated off he and his burden sank. When he came to the surface, a piece of driftwood struck his head, and he knew no more. FIRES OF DESIRE 273 The Doctor never had a very clear recollection of what followed. Instinctively, she seized the sinking man's hair and made an effort to strike out. The next thing she remembered was find- ing herself caught in the topmost branches of a tree. There she contrived to draw herself and the man partly out of the water upon the branches and entangled debris 1 . Was Lockland dead? Had she caused him to lose his life by that rash voyage in the darkness? She felt for his heart. " Thank God ! he is only stunned !" she cried, overjoyed to find his heart beating. She also felt his injured arm and found it was not broken, though badly hurt. Hoping to get aid, she cried out at the top of her voice. There was a reply, but at some distance. When she called again, Lockland stirred. " They are answering," he muttered. " We must be near shore." Don't try to move or you may slip into the water and drown," commanded Esther. " Where are we? " he asked, feeling about in the darkness. " Caught in the tree," she replied. " By Jove ! " cried the man, pulling himself to- gether, " I have made a mess of it." 274 FIRES OF DESIRE " You did nobly. It was not your fault the boat capsized, or that you were hit by those logs," said the girl. His head was hurting, and so was his arm. Fortunately they were comparatively safe where they were, for he was incapable of much exertion. " I am sure I shall never forgive myself for causing all this trouble," said Esther contritely. 11 Oh, never mind about that," he replied mag- nanimously, " You could not foresee all this, and the case was urgent." " I hope those poor natives were not drowned." " They probably got through all right," Lock- land answered reassuringly. " They are used to paddling around in the water." " Let's call for help," he added after a moment. Their loud calls again brought a response. It did not seem so very far away. Certainly the shore could not be very distant or the tree would not be above water. The rain had slackened again. Darkness, however, was all encompass- ing. " If somebody would make a big fire on the banks, we might see how to get out of this. It must be hours yet till day." Lockland was grumbling at things in good English fashion. He called aloud, again and again, for some one, to start a fire. Esther thought she could at FIRES OF DESIRE 275 length distinguish an answering " Baliut Ac- chcha." After the lapse of what seemed an interminable while, flames were seen to dart upward into the night only a few hundred yards away. As they rose higher and increased in volume, the anxious watchers could distinguish men moving about. Esther then gave Lockland various sentences to shout out in his strong voice. The men were entreated to come to the rescue. Large back- sheesh was promised for aid. The waters were quiet. They were not far away. " Ata, Sahib, Ata" Esther heard at last. " They say they are coming," she said. " Well I'll keep shouting to guide them and en- courage them too." They could see a boat being dragged into the water. Men with a lantern were getting into it. Slowly, slowly, the lantern moved towards them. They devoutly hoped the boat would not get fast in the tree tops. It got within easy hailing dis- tance. Esther then took up the work of en- couragement, which soon passed into conversa- tion. " Did the three boatmen get to the shore? " she called. " Yes, all three, and not hurt," they answered. The boat was beside their diminutive desert 276 FIRES OF DESIRE isle. Assisted by the boatmen they clambered in. " Safe at last," cried Esther, and there was a suspicion of tears in her voice. Wet, cold, faint, they stepped ashore in the glow of the fire-light. Five hours had passed since they left the other bank. FIRES OF DESIRE 277 CHAPTER XVI FAINTING BY THE WAY AFTER George Dickson had sent the messenger for Dr. Emmett, he had gone back to his wife's bedside to watch there. If all went well the doctor might arrive next day. The man sighed as he looked at his wife's flushed, pain-drawn face and watched her restless tossing upon the bed. Even two more days without help might be a serious matter. What if the river should be impassable, or the Doctor away from home? 1 Could the frail form before him endure for a week the inward fire that was consuming her? The next day wore on to a close, but no help arrived. By the end of another day, word came by some men who had just entered the town, that the river was raging, so that none dared attempt to cross it. Dickson groaned aloud when he heard it. The sound seemed to arouse his wife. She opened her eyes and looked around rather wildly. " Mother," she said weakly, " please give me a 278 FIRES OF DESIRE little ice. You know you always let me have ice when I'm sick." In her delirium she evidently thought herself at home with her mother once more. " No ice, no mother, no doctor nothing but suffering and death here," the man thought bit- terly. He took a clinical thermometer and shook the mercury down below the normal point. Putting it between his wife's lips, he knelt by the bed, patiently counting the wild pulse beats, while the thermometer was registering the temperature. It had been a hundred and four degrees for some days. Yesterday it was a hundred and five. To- day yes, his anxious scrutiny of the little in- strument showed that it had mounted a trifle above one hundred and six. " Oh, God have mercy ! " he cried, looking help- lessly about. He knew little of fevers, but he remembered hearing that it would not take long for the life to burn out at such a temperature. Save for the ayah, faithful but inefficient, who looked after the child, he was alone with the in- valid. Of the simple remedies at hand, he had used in vain all he dared. What to do next he knew not, yet he felt that something must be done soon or never. FIRES OF DESIRE 279 A thought came to him. Had he ever heard of such a thing? Or was it a new idea? It seemed reasonable. He would try it anyway. Stepping to the door he called the ayah. She came quickly, with his little daughter toddling along behind her. At his bidding she helped him bring the large tub from the bathroom and place it by the bed. " Call the mali to bring fresh water from the well, quickly." The woman hurried wonderingly out to give the order to the gardener. By the time the bath was nearly filled Dick- son had his wife ready. He tried to make her understand what he was going to do, but with ill success. Wrapping a blanket about her, with the help of the now reluctant ayah, he lifted the patient from the bed and laid her down in the water. As her hot body sank under the cold water, the woman screamed and tried to resist. " Oh, Sahib," cried the terrified ayah, " you will surely kill my good Mem Sahib." The little girl also looked frightened and cried aloud. " Naughty Papa, naughty Papa, to hurt my sick Mamma so," she said between her sobs and cries. Dickson, fearful yet desperate, persisted. 2 8o FIRES OF DESIRE After the first shock the patient bore it better. The cold had aroused her from her delirium, and she understood when her husband explained what he was doing. He kept testing her tempera- ture till it fell to one hundred and four. Then he lifted her out, and got her back into bed. The experiment seemed beneficial. With lowered temperature the patient rested better. Therefore, through the long days and longer nights of hope deferred, again and again was the cold bath resorted to. Supplemented by wet cloths and a rubber bottle filled with cold water kept constantly on her head, the fever was held somewhat at bay. Yet the sufferer daily weakened. Would help never come? It was the sixth day since he had sent his servant to bring the Doctor. He had heard occasionally that the man was not able to get across the river. From the steady downpour of rain, he had little hope that the waters would soon abate. Worn and almost hopeless from anxiety and loss of rest, the poor fellow sank into a chair, and fell asleep in spite of himself. " Koi hai!" Dickson started up. Had he been dreaming, or did he really hear a woman calling before the FIRES OF DESIRE 281 bungalow? Rushing out upon the veranda he saw first his bullock-cart, then a tall, strange man with his right arm bandaged and in a sling, and then Dr. Emmett. His knees almost gave way beneath him from excess of relief and joy. " Thank God you have come/' he cried fer- vently as he shook hands with the Doctor. " This is my friend and protector, Mr. Lock- land," said Esther, introducing the two men. And then, "How is our patient? " " Bad enough I fear, but come and see," an- swered the husband. It was such a comfort to see a woman at his wife's bedside. Through a mist of thankful tears he watched her as she felt pulse and brow, listened to the sick woman's heart-beats, and skil- fully sounded with gentle finger raps over the abdomen. Then she straightened the covers, and with womanly gentleness smoothed back the suf- ferer's hair. As she turned from the bed, read- ing the thermometer, she was ready to question the man. Her head nodded approval at this and that item of information. When he told how high the fever had ranged, of his fears, and of his expedient for reducing it, the Doctor was lavish in her praise. 282 FIRES OF DESIRE " You have probably saved her life, Mr. Dick- son. Had I been here I could have done little more." Upon request, the family supply of medicine was brought out. The Doctor had lost all hers in the river. " You have here all I shall need for the present," she said. " This is a case for nursing rather than doctoring just now." " Is it enteric? " the man asked anxiously. " No, I see no typhoid symptoms," Esther re- plied. " It is probably malaria working upon a constitution weakened by nervous strain." Everything seemed so much better than he had feared. He felt almost cheerful. " Please have some fresh water brought," Esther requested. " I want to see whether we can use a modification of your fever bath. I wish we tiad some ice." An idle wish in that place, though ice was plen- tiful in the large cities. Years before it used to be brought by the shipload from America. It was a notable occasion when a ship was unload- ing at Calcutta. Great ice houses stood upon the site now occupied by the building of the Court of Small Causes. It is a pity that cooling breezes from those bygone days do not yet linger about the spot to allay the heat of the endless petty FIRES OF DESIRE 283 litigation between servants and masters, debtors and creditors there constantly aided and abetted by cheap native lawyers. In modern days, how- ever, ice is manufactured and sold in India about as cheaply as in America. Even small places along the railways can get it from every pas- senger train during the hot weather. There is always a compartment devoted to a vendor of bottled mineral water and ice. But it could not be had in Munghier. Nor could it well be con- veyed there from Mungalpore at such a time. Even yet, all the hardships of pioneer days in India linger about many isolated stations. When the water came fresh from the well, the Doctor was pleased to find how cool it was. Thereafter, they used the modern fever bath, that consists in an application of cold over the heart and the abdomen and upon the head. Meanwhile, Lockland was waiting in the draw- ing-room alone. Aside from a slight scalp wound and a temporarily disabled arm, he was not much the worse for wear from the rough experiences of the previous night. When he and the Doctor had reached the shore they had been immediately beset by the three hapless boatmen. They demanded pay for their lost craft, their services and their hardships. The man who had been knocked overboard seemed 284 FIRES OF DESIRE to think he had a claim for indemnity above his fellows who had leaped from the sinking boat. " Tell the knave it served him jolly well right to get knocked overboard, for not looking out and warning us of the danger," said Lockland to Esther as they pushed through the crowd up to the fire. Esther at once examined Lockland's head, and found that it needed no care. Then she bandaged his arm as best she could with their handker- chiefs and strips torn from his wet shirt-sleeves. There were some huts near by. In the best of them Esther sought shelter. There she borrowed some saris from the women. Exchanging her wet garments for them, she lay down on a cot to rest until her clothing could be dried. The women took the wet things out to the fire. The men in a neighboring hut were performing like kindly offices for Lockland. By morning the weary travelers were considerably refreshed, after a good rubbing and several hours' sleep. Their clothing was dry. Dickson's bullock-cart had been made ready. They liberally rewarded all who had aided them, and set out upon the last long stretch of their muddy journey. Sitting alone in the bungalow, after the hard and perilous journey was over, Lockland looked back upon it with very mixed feelings. His al- FIRES OF DESIRE 285 ready high admiration and respect for Esther Emmett had been increased by her coolness and courage. He was devoutly thankful he had been with her to help her. But he thought ruefully that he must have appeared to her in rather an unfavorable light for the bungling way he con- ducted matters. After all, it had been she who had saved his life; he had not saved hers. Would she not dislike him more than ever? It was a torturing thought for the man who had vainly loved her for months. At dinner that evening, however, Esther was warm in her praise of Lockland. She assured Dickson that she could not have got there if he had not compelled the men to start. She de- clared she would inevitably have been drowned if he had not managed the boat so admirably. Lock- land blushed like a girl, and stammered dis- claimers at Esther's praise and Dickson's warm ttianks. It made him more happy and hopeful though. The next day he set out for Mungalpore. He could be of little help to Dickson by remaining. The Doctor was anxious to have some medicine and a food preparation sent her as soon as pos- sible. There had been no heavy rain since they had crossed the river. Passage would probably be easier by daylight. So he bade Esther good- 286 FIRES OF DESIRE bye, and set out to retrace his steps. It was with difficulty that he forbore to press his suit again as he was leaving Esther. Her manner toward him had seemed so changed and kindly. They were alone at parting. Yet he could not bring himself to speak. No doubt it was well. " Tell Miss Everest to be a good girl and take care of everything until I get back," the Doc- tor called to Lockland as he drove away. Mabel had become one of the most valuable as- sistants the Doctor had. She had learned many things about the hospital and dispensary. With constant attendance upon Esther, and receiving much instruction from her, she had even ac- quired considerable skill in administering reme- dies and caring for the sick. She was the Doc- tor's only white assistant, and next to that lady herself, was held in honor by the natives who needed medical treatment. Particularly while the Doctor was absent did assistants and patients look to Mabel for direction and help. A day or two after Lockland's return to the station he came into the hospital one evening, ac- companied by a wealthy native landowner from a neighboring town. They were looking for Mabel. " Miss Everest," said Lockland, " this chap says he must speak with you on an urgent mat- ter." FIRES OF DESIRE 287 " Madam, you are the great and good Doctor, and I seek your aid," the man said, bowing low. " No, the Doctor is not here," Mabel replied. " But," said the landowner, " you too are a doctor of rare skill and can help me." " What is it you wish? " the girl asked. " It is many days since my wife was taken ill. She can get no relief. I beg you to come to my house and heal her. I will pay the madam well," was the reply. After learning all she could of the case, and the way to reach the man's house, Mabel agreed to take a native doctor with her next day, and do what she could for the sick woman. They left by the five o'clock train next morning. It was ten o'clock when they reached the man's house. Mabel felt rather faint from hunger, and asked for a glass of milk before going into the patient's apartments. 11 Has it been boiled? " she inquired of the ser- vant who brought it. He assured her it had. A sip of it convinced her that he told the truth. Milk and water are two things about which it is necessary to be very cautious in India. When the two medical women entered the sick woman's room, they found her rather weak, but not very seriously ill. Evidently she had a fever 288 FIRES OF DESIRE from a bad cold. It was no difficult matter for the native doctor to decide upon remedies, and recommendations as to diet and the like, that restored her to health after a few days. They returned the same evening to Mungalpore, well paid by the grateful husband. That night Mabel and Jennie Pierce had a pleasant chat together before retiring. They were both congratulating themselves that they had kept so well during all the terrible year. As they went to bed, Mabel called through the open, curtained doors between their room " Oh, but the bed feels good to-night. I didn't know how tired I was until I lay down." " Well, have a good sleep, and you will be rested by morning." Miss Pierce had called back. Early next morning Dr. Emmett came over to the bungalow. She had got in late the evening before and gone to her own bungalow by the hos- pital. Mrs. Dickson was well enough to be left with one of the nurses who had gone out from the hospital. She was now anxious to see her friends. " Wake up there," she cried, pulling the pillow from under Jennie Pierce's head. " Is this the way you sleep away the hours when I am not here to keep you in order? " FIRES OF DESIRE 289 " Oh, it is so good to have you back again," said the good-natured Jennie, forgetting about her disturbed slumbers in the joy of seeing her friend. After talking awhile, the Doctor said she must go see Mabel. " Don't waken her," pleaded Jennie, " she had a hard day yesterday, and went to bed very tired. I hope she can sleep late." " All right, I'll just have a peep at her then." The doctor went softly to the door and pulled aside the curtain. Then she tip-toed up to the bed and peered through the mosquito netting at the face of her friend. The wealth of golden brown hair made a halo about the head upon the pillow. The half-averted face showed a perfect profile. The Doctor saw the beauty of it all, but her skillful eye saw something more. The face was deathly white. With a low cry Esther tore aside the netting. " What is it? " Jennie Pierce asked, rushing into the room in terror. " Cholera," said the Doctor in a shaken voice. She added, " It will be death soon unless we hurry." It was true. So suddenly that she had no op- portunity to call out to her friend in the adjoin- ing room, Mabel had been seized in the night by 290 FIRES OF DESIRE the dread destroyer. Later on, it was learned that the foe had been lurking in the milk drunk the day before. It had been boiled indeed, but when the servant had poured it into the glass, there was not enough to fill it. Unwilling to give an unfilled glass to a guest, he had quickly poured water into it. That water was unboiled and con- taminated. The Doctor began her work at once. Chloro- dyne was at hand, and was immediately adminis- tered. In bath robe and slippers Jennie Pierce was sent running to the hospital for Rubini's camphor, and other remedies and appliances. If skill and work and prayer could save, Mabel would be saved. None could tell what the issue would be. Out in the orphanage where the older girls were busy with cooking and housework for all, the news of Mabel's illness spread. Long ago, the loveliness of the gracious girl had impressed those little waifs with their Oriental susceptibility to beauty. ' Khubsurat Bibi, Beautiful Lady,' they began secretly to call her. The name had passed on to the servants, and hospital patients, and so to the missionaries 1 . She was known far and near by no other name. After the breakfast, when Miss Best was con- ducting morning worship in the orphanage, she FIRES OF DESIRE 291 offered a petition for the recovery of the one of their number who was ill. In the pause that fol- lowed, one of the larger girls interjected. " Yes, God, make well the Khubsurat Bibi." Others took up the petition. At first they spoke calmly, one by one. But with growing earnestness several were soon speaking at once. Then the smaller children caught the excitement and began the mournful wailing that the people of the land use in times of desolation. After that, the petitions were offered to many gods and demons whose names are strange to Christian ears. For a while even prim Miss Best let them give vent to their grief and sincere desires. If deities were invoked who could not help, they at Itast could not hinder the fervent petitions in their flight to the God of all. At last she quieted and comforted the children, and sent them to their lessons with assurances that the Good Father would do what was best for their Khub- surat Bibi. At neighboring temples and shrines that day many offerings of food and flowers were made to grotesque idols in behalf of the Beautiful Lady. In all the roads were seen leaves daubed with red paint and lime and other things, in the hope that sympathetic magic would convey the disease from Mabel to the first one passing over them. 292 FIRES OF DESIRE Flowers were sent in profusion to the bungalow for the sick girl. She had found a way into their simple hearts. It was not all in vain. By noon the worst was passed. At night the Doctor bade all hope. Next morning there was little danger that time and care would not bring recovery. Evening found the Doctor at her own bunga- low. She was tired, but happy. Mabel was well out of danger. Word had come from her as- sistant that Mrs. Dickson was rapidly improv- ing. Esther was enjoying her relaxation, but feeling rather lonesome. A servant called at the door announcing that Lockland Sahib had come to see her. " Give him my salams," said the Doctor. That meant to usher him in. Lockland's lucky star was in the ascendant that night. He had come with the set purpose again to sue for the lady's heart and hand. If he had hit upon an inopportune time before, he was more fortunate at this second trial. Esther had glowing recollections of his recent heroic services. She was happy in the consciousness of tasks well done. But she was also weary and lonely after her long exertion and anxiety for others. Companionship was grateful to her. Her powers of resistance were at low ebb. FIRES OF DESIRE 293 They talked of many things of mutual interest. Esther was compelled to admit to herself that he was an uncommonly handsome and wholesome looking man. Lockland, without resistance, ad- mitted to himself that she was altogether the brightest and most charming little woman he had ever met. They drifted into reminiscences of that wild night upon the river. He upbraided himself for not having done better. She would hear of no disparagement. But for him, she would have drowned. Then his good genius prompted him to speak. " Miss Emmett, I wish with all my heart that you would let me be with you to help you always. Will you not make me happy by being my own dear wife? " Esther was blushing and looking at the floor. His heart leapt with hope. He thought how dif- ferent she now was from the girl who had formerly so promptly refused him. Drawing his chair close beside her, he pleaded with her to bid him hope. It was well he was so close to her, for when she at last spoke the little word he sought it" was so low and faltering that he could barely hear it. Lockland was a happy man as he strode away through the darkness, whistling a merry tune. And the dear little woman, who had so long been. 294 FIRES OF DESIRE fighting her own battles, and thinking only of the good of others, sank to rest that night think- ing about herself and the love of the strong man who was henceforth to uphold her. Their plans for the future were soon formed. Her furlough was overdue. Another doctor would soon be out to relieve her. They would be married and go to his home in England, for she had no home in America. After a happy year to- gether there, they would return to the land they both desired to serve, and where she had the work she loved. Mabel would sail by the same steamer. Complete recovery from her severe illness could not be had in India. She would leave them in England and return to her old home. The wedding took place at high noon one bright day in September when the rain forgot to fall. The chapel was a bower of flowers. All the way thereto was overarched with green and thickly strewn with blossoms. From far and near the people had gathered to see the marriage of their healer and friend, the Doctor Miss Sahib. The chapel was packed, and throngs stood about doors and windows. Then there was a farewell reception in the afternoon before they took the train for Bombay. It was presided over by the native magistrate. Hindus, Mohammedans and Christians mingled I FIRES OF DESIRE 295 together. The community would express its ap- preciation of the doctor and the Beautiful Lady as they were leaving. Garlands were hung about their necks. Attar of roses was profusely sprinkled over them. Gifts were lavished upon them. Testimonials, printed upon silks and framed under glass, were presented to them. In English and in Hindi, in song and in oration, in poetry and in prose, people told them to their faces what they thought of them. When the program was ended the encomiums broke out afresh by volunteer speeches which could not be restrained. One old Babu averred that after the Doctor had gone the town of Mungalpore would be " like Hamlet with the ghost left out." A young man, not to be outdone in gallantry, or in Shakespearean lore, praised the queenly grace and the kindly deeds of Mabel, and con- cluded by saying in a tearful voice ' Take her for all in all, We shall never look like her again.' It was all very funny, and very touching, too. Beneath the native love of display there was a real depth of feeling, and a real appreciation of the helpful services of the friends who were going 296 FIRES OF DESIRE far away. Only the near approach of the hour of departure finally ended the laudations. The long train pulled into the station and halted. The travelers found the compartment re- served for them. There were warm hand-grasps, and kisses and tears and laughter. Then the train moved away. That seemed the real parting with India. Seeing its shores sink into the waters as the ship steamed westward from Bombay next day, did not cost half as much regret. Lockland and Esther were very happy. They were off for a holiday, and without a care. For Mabel it was different. To what was she going back? " Brave, beautiful darling," said Esther, in speaking of her friend to her husband. " I hope that the future will have balm to heal all the hurts of the cruel past." FIRES OF DESIRE 297 CHAPTER XVII A HAND OUT OF THE DARKNESS FRANK STANTON landed in New York after a thoroughly wretched month spent en route. A few hours later, he was on the train speeding to- wards Lexington. He saw none of the beauty of the hills and vales as the train traversed the mountains. There was in his heart a dread of what awaited him. For the first time in his life, Home-going did not mean joy at the thought of seeing his mother and his betrothed. He had not found courage to write after leav- ing Calcutta. From London he had cabled news of his safe arrival. A telegram telling when he would be home had been sent from New York. Yet no one was at the station when he arrived, late in the afternoon. It made him more heavy- hearted than ever. Calling a carriage he drove to his house. How familiar the way, along Limestone, and Main, and out Broadway. But what an eternity it seemed since he had passed that way before. 298 FIRES OF DESIRE The house looked strangely deserted and closed up. It made the man feel weak as he stepped from the carriage. When he rang the door-bell his hand shook as though palsied. It was but a moment, yet seemed an age, until the door was opened by the old man-servant. " Praise de Lawd ! youse come at last," the darkey cried, as Frank grasped his worn old hand. " Moth,er? where is she? " he asked as he pushed past the servant into the hall. " Oh, Mars Frank !" was all old Sam could say. It was enough. Frank read the tragic meaning of tone and words. " For God's sake, Sam, tell me she isn't dead," he cried. The faithful old fellow could only shake his head, while tears of sorrow and sympathy coursed down his wrinkled face. It told more than any words could have done. Frank sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands. After a few minutes Sam went close to his young master. Kesting his hand upon his head as he had often done when Frank was a child, he told how they had found the ' ole Miss ' dead in her chair that sad morning, more than three weeks before. " Sam," he said at length, " I am going to my; "Mother ? Where is she ? FIRES OF DESIRE 299 room. If there is mail for me, bring it there. Do not let any one into the house." He went upstairs and into his old room. It h'ad evidently been made ready for him. Upon the desk were lying some letters and a small packet. Turning them over he recognized Mabel's writing upon the packet and one letter. Another was from his mother's lawyer. He had not courage to touch the former; the latter he tore open and read. It informed him that a cable- gram to Calcutta had brought an answer from Clifford that he was already on his way home, but had not told where a message could reach him. Frank felt sure that the omission had been intentional, to spare him additional anguish on the long voyage. The lawyer asked him to call as soon as possible. Mabel's letter was open in his hand at last. How simply it began; how calmly it went on to the end. " Dear Frank, I shall be far away when you get this. I am going because I cannot stay to meet you now that your life has been bound to another. What I shall do in the future, I do not know. I only know I must go away now. " The dear little mother looked so sweet and peaceful when I saw her the day after the letters 300 FIRES OF DESIRE came. Her spirit will surely be near you to help you, and you must do what is brave and right. " I am leaving the ring for you. But do not think that I have ceased to love you. It is only that our lives have been torn apart. When you read this I shall be praying that you may come out of this sorrow and ruin, your own noble self again. Do not disappoint my hopes by any fail- ure. L With deathless love, Mabel." Such had been his home-coming, and his wel- come. The cup of his misery was indeed full. During that night of sorrow and anguish of spirit, Frank slept little and planned much. He would arrange his business affairs with his law- yer and get away from Lexington as soon as pos- sible. Where he would go or what he would do he was not sure. His ordination papers had been forfeited ; he had no thought of preaching. Per- haps he could teach somewhere. Something he must do to redeem the past. In all the bitter- ness of his thoughts he cried out neither against God nor any fellow-creature. For his mother and Mabel and Radha, the three women whose lives had been involved in the wreck of his own, he had no word of reproach. With the ways of Pro- FIRES OF DESIRE 301 Tidence, and the misery of his lot, he had no dis- position to quarrel. It was a hopeful sign, full of promise for the future. The man was well- nigh crushed to the earth. Yet he was lavishing his pity not upon self, but upon those whom he had injured. He was not wasting his energies in cowardly whining over the hardness of his lot, but was trying to use them in shaping his course for the future. The early morning found him at his mother's grave. He had covered it over with flowers. Up- on his knees, between the graves of his father and mother he was seeking to hold communion with their spirits. Certainly they spoke to their boy by the power of their own noble lives, and not less by the loftiness of their ideals for him. It seemed to him that he could almost hear actual words of counsel and of cheer, and that his words of love and penitence and promise were also heard. From the peaceful beauty of the resting place of so many noble dead, from the memories of the past, from the thought of the immortality which is to swallow up all mortal cares and pains, his spirit drank repose. A few hours with his lawyer enabled Frank to learn how his financial affairs stood, and to make all necessary arrangements for the immediate future. The Stantons had never been rich. Yet 302 FIRES OF DESIRE there was enough to keep Frank very comfortably without work, if he had been disposed to idle. He knew, however, that such a life would mean misery and ruin. Promising to keep the lawyer informed as to his whereabouts, he announced his intention of leaving Lexington that day. By night he was in Cincinnati. The next day he reached Chicago. Just why he went there he did not know, but he hoped it would afford him an opportunity to begin life anew unnoticed. It had the advantage of being a place familiar to him, and yet not intimately associated with his blighted hopes. For some days he drifted rather aimlessly about. To seek his former associates in his old work would demand humiliating explanations. Any application for a position of responsibility such as he wanted, would be useless without recommendations that were not then obtainable. It was two weeks before he bethought him of some seminary acquaintances who were engaged in social settlement work in the city. Perhaps he could begin there without having to answer em- barrassing questions, if he would offer his service free. His arrival at the settlement and offer to work were hailed as a godsend. Both workers and money were scarce there. Frank soon found FIRES OF DESIRE 303 himself busy enough. His special tasks were re- lief visitation by day, and teaching a class of young men at night. For a time, the work in- terested and diverted him. It was not long, though, until it began to prove to be the wrong environment for him. Lonely, depressed, stripped of the dearest hopes of his life, the man was unfit for work which re- quired him constantly to give to others without opportunity to receive help from them. The flaw developed in his character by strong temptation in India was a source of weakness. He was daily brought into contact with life upon low levels. When tired and discouraged, inclination to aban- don himself to evil was always met by oppor- tunity, and frequently by solicitation to do so. Life became a continual battle with despondency and passion. Retreat or defeat was becoming in- evitable. When the darkness had so deepened about him that Frank had all but lost his way, a helping hand was unexpectedly reached out to him. His lawyer had been his father's friend and comrade- in-arms in the days when the South's heroic sons wore the gray. The good man did not know just what had brought the boy home and separated him from Mabel. Nor did he know any of the details of the struggle going on in the slums of 304 FIRES OF DESIRE Chicago. But he realized that things were sadly out of joint, and that the boy was in danger. It was with the determination to do for Frank what he would have wanted some one to do for his son, under like circumstances, that the lawyer had written a letter to another old friend of Mr. Stanton's. The letter had told all the writer knew of the case, and had urged the friend to help the lad if he could think of a way. Thus it happened that Frank one day got a letter from General Sinclair, inviting him to visit him at his home in the Old Dominion, with a view to taking up some important work with him. The opportunity to escape from an intolerable situa- tion was too welcome to be refused. Within a week Stanton had exchanged the foulness and evil of a city slum, for the pure air of the hill country of southwest Virginia. General Sinclair had been a brave fighter dur- ing all the years of the civil war. When the war was ended, however, he had followed the example of his great Commander, as he had formerly fol- lowed his leadership. It was a time when the South needed all her brave sons more than ever. He would not flee the rigors of reconstruction. He would not fan into flame the smoldering em- bers of sectional hatred. So the man, yet in his FIRES OF DESIRE 305 thirties, had looked about him for some way to serve the best interests of his native state. The great Commander had gone to a quiet town in the Valley, and had assumed the leadership of an already venerable and honorable institu- tion of learning. Well had he known that Vir- ginia's help and the South's must come from their own sons. Equally well had he realized that those sons could be prepared for such help- fulness only by patient teaching from those who had known the best of the old life, had tasted all the bitterness of the new, and were willing to endure it patiently for the sake of a newer day yet to dawn. The great Commander showed him- self as ready to do his part in such teaching as he had been to take the leadership of the armed hosts whose heroic struggle for their state had challenged the admiration of the world. Thus the Commander of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia became the President of a college. Even nobler in defeat than he had been in victory, greater in peace than he had been in war, he led the vanguard of the hosts of the New South. To this day his dauntless spirit marches before the valorous manhood of the South. Every man of vision can see him, modestly wearing the lau- rels wherewith his people crowned him more gloriously in his defeat than others were else- 306 FIRES OF DESIRE where crowned in victory, going on in the sunset hours of his life, doing well his simple tasks, a soldierly, heroic, benign man. And no true Southerner remains unmoved as the Command- er's words come to his ears from those bygone days : " Let us work to make Virginia great again." It was under the influence of such counsel and such an example that General Sinclair had labored at the teacher's desk for a whole genera- tion. His academy combined military training with scholastic lore. No private institution in the South had better patronage or wider in- fluence. It was known to stand for honor and manhood. Though the General was growing old, his academy continued a fountain of perpetual youth whose living streams flowed out to bless the land. In its pure air, upon its hilltop, guided by the knightly soldier, young men learned to breathe deep, and stand straight, and see far. Thither his angel of good fortune had led the feet of Frank Stanton. " Well, my boy, I certainly am glad to see you," the General cried heartily, as he shook the new- comer warmly by the hand. " I thank you, sir," responded Frank. " It is a pleasure to me to be here, and to see my father's old friend." FIRES OF DESIRE 307 " You are the image of your father as I knew him in the old war times," said the General, look- ing the young man over attentively. That night the two men had a long talk to- gether after the evening meal. The General wanted Frank to accept a position in the school, with a possible view to succeed to its leadership when the older man must give it up. " This sort of work is as much .needed in the South to-day as it was at the close of the war," the General said. " This is our real period of reconstruction. No one fully realizes the changes that are now rapidly taking place in our social and industrial life. The Southland is getting rich, her vast resources are just being discovered and developed. If we are to have a generation of men who will use all the material advantages of the new era, and yet preserve the chivalry and grace of the old regime, now is the time for our churches and schools to be busy. My work will be over before the reconstruction is accomplished. I must find helpers." " General," the young man replied, " I am sure you are right. I wish that I were worthy to have even a very small part in this work. Cer- tainly I am not fit to take the lead in any respon- sible enterprise. Indeed, I must now show you how unworthy of your confidence I am." 308 FIRES OF DESIRE Thereupon he made a full statement of his shameful failure in India. Notwithstanding the General's effort to silence him, he went on to the end of the story. He spoke with embarrass- ment, but without cant or subterfuge. Not even his recent struggles were concealed. " Now," said he, when his confession was finished, and he was wiping the perspiration from his brow and hands, " you see for yourself that leadership of the South's new manhood is not for me." The General had listened attentively, and had watched him closely. He now arose and stood beside his young friend. " God forbid that I should encourage you to regard your sin as a light affair," he said. " But I can say without reserve that your story has neither surprised me, nor altered my opinion of you. From what I had previously learned of your case, I was prepared for your confession. You have spoken like a man, and you have fought and conquered like a man in all the hard battles you have seen since leaving Calcutta. I want a man here, and I repeat my offer." " But, General," protested Stanton, " I have failed once and may fail again." " I'll run the risk of that," the old soldier re- plied. " Our task in the South is to lead a peo- FIRES OF DESIRE 309 pie who have known the pain and humiliation of crushing defeat. Perhaps you will serve the bet- ter from having known the like yourself." " Think, though, General, of how perilously near I have been to falling into destruction while in Chicago," interposed Frank, nervously. " My boy," said the old man kindly, and he laid his hand upon Frank's shoulder, " it is be- cause you have passed unscathed through the past few months, that I believe in you. That you have been tempted is nothing; every man with red blood in his body is often tempted. That you have fought the fight like a victor and con- quered despite terrible odds, is everything. I need you here, and I repeat my offer." Forthwith a new era in Frank Stanton's life began. To find himself with a friend from whom he had concealed nothing; to be trusted once more by a manly man; to be surrounded by normal, healthy human beings for whom he could honorably work it put new courage into him. As he thought it all over, lying in his bed that first night and looking out upon the moonlit hills, he could only ask himself whether he was dreaming, or just awakening from a torturing nightmare. He was to make his home with the General. That good man lived with his widowed sister. 310 FIRES OF DESIRE The ruin which had engulfed the * Lost Cause ' had swept away the heart's idols of each. The sister's husband had fallen with Stuart in the de- fense of Kichmond. The General's wife, and the baby boy he had never seen, had died of want and exposure amid the inhuman horrors of the Valley Campaign. Brother and sister alike, preferred the memories of the past to any new joys held out to them by possible alliances with other life- companions. So they had dwelt together for more than thirty years, their spirits chastened by unforgotten bereavements, and helped to noble achievement by fellowship with their blessed dead. Their house stood hard by the academy build- ings, behind which were the barracks that housed the cadets. As many a homesick lad had learned, the General's house was one that was filled with the real spirit of home. Frank found it so, too, and his heart was again warmed into life by the kindness of the General and his sister. He was soon both teacher and learner at the academy. In the class room he took up his work with a zest that made him a success from the start. Upon the parade ground and at home, he studied and practiced military science and tac- tics so assiduously that the General and the other instructors declared he was a born soldier. With FIRES OF DESIRE 311 his colleagues and with the cadets he became a prime favorite. The General noted with satis- faction that the man was a natural leader, and that his presence in the institution was proving salutary. It had been no mistake to trust him. As the months passed, Frank regained con- fidence in himself. He was mastering his fears and defeating his evil genius. At the same time, the memories of the past saved him from over- weening assurance. Healthful activity and human comradeship kept him from despondency in spite of his bitter regrets and his shattered hopes. In the fires of sorrow his spirit was being tempered for noble uses. " General," he said one day, " I believe that I shall get to be a man again, thanks to your timely help and confidence." (( Thanks to your own manly fight, my boy," replied the General with a kindly smile. " I haven't worked with boys all these years for noth- ing. Frank, I was sure of you from the start." " I can never repay you," Frank began humbly. But the General cut him short. " Tut, tut !" he cried, " We'll have no talk of pay here. And if it comes to that, I should be the debtor. You are invaluable to me in my .work." 312 FIRES OF DESIRE " So long as I can serve you here, you may count upon my help," Stanton said. " Then you will stay fifty years after I am dead and gone," the General answered with a laugh. " Don't forget, I am counting upon you to continue my work after I have to give it up." " If I can show myself worthy, I could ask no higher honor," the young man assured his friend. FIRES OF DESIRE 313 CHAPTER XVIII THE BIRD WITH A BROKEN PINION WAR'S wild alarm was sounding through the land. Men were rallying to the call to arms. Not that the country had been invaded by any foe. All was peace and security throughout our broad domains. No insult had been offered to our flag or our citizens abroad. Nor had a hunger for more land seized the nation. What, then, meant the awakening of our martial spirit? A once mighty nation had come to the evil days of its senility and dotage. Incapable of main- taining the vast empire in the West which the genius and pluck of Columbus had secured for it, year by year it had lost its American posses- sions. Unfit to govern men, Spain undertook to oppress them. Unable to quell the revolution in Cuba that her incompetence and cruelty had caused, she seemed bent upon the perpetuation of a series of barbarities which shocked the civ- ilized world. It was high time for Spain to be 3H FIRES OF DESIRE taught that the old-world despotism of past cen- turies would not be tolerated in the free air of the nineteenth century anywhere near the Amer- ican continent. Spain could not rule Cuba, and would not let it rule itself, therefore she must be made to get out of the new world, bag and bag- gage. To American suggestions that she speedily re- store the island to peace, Spain turned a deaf ear. To demands that her atrocities cease, she re- turned sullen and defiant answers. It was 1 be- coming apparent that something more drastic than polite correspondence. would be required to loosen the rapacious grasp of the cruel dotard upon the Pearl of the Antilles. That something was* grim war. Patience was holding out, though it was ceas- ing to be a virtue. Then something happened. In Havana harbor, where it had undoubted right to be, an American battle-ship was peacefully lying. Through criminal carelessness, or some- thing far worse, Spain allowed a mine to be ex- ploded beneath that ship. The majestic vessel that had ridden the waves so proudly, had heaved upward above that dread explosion, and had set- tle down beneath the waters, ruined and wrecked forever. Brave officers and men who were sleep- ing in security were robbed of their lives, trapped FIRES OF DESIRE 315 and drowned as though they had been miserable rats. Then America cried, " Remember the Maine !" Her sons answered, " We will re- member." The boom of that treacherous mine sounded the death-knell of Spain's imperial glory. It was a signal to sign the death-warrant of her power beyond the seas. When the declaration of war was followed by the President's call for one hundred and twenty- five thousand volunteers, Frank Stanton an- nounced to the General his determination to en- list. " It's a righteous cause. It's a chance for us Southerners to prove our loyalty. I don't know how anyone could be freer to go into the service of his country than I am," he said to his old friend. " Far be it from me to oppose you, my boy," the old soldier answered. " I declare, I am think- ing of offering my services to my country." " But you; have seen war enough in your time," Frank suggested. " Why not leave the business to young blood? " " There is a good deal of fight left in me yet," said the General, shaking his head and smiling. " Besides, there is much that appeals to me in what you say about this opportunity for Souther- ners to show their loyalty to our flag. I assure 316 FIRES OF DESIRE you, I have known few sadder days than the one when I had to choose between my country and my native state. The South, and Virginia par- ticularly, did more than any others to make pos- sible our nation and our flag. Now that the old Cause is dead, I long to prove once more what Virginia can do for the nation she has so largely created." " I hope that many Southerners will enlist," said Frank. " In the civil war, our cause was so entangled with slavery that we seemed to be fight- ing for human oppression. Now we can strike a blow for the freedom of man." " You go ahead and enlist at once, my boy," counseled the General with enthusiasm. " I'll see how I can arrange my affairs, and will offer my services later, if possible." When Frank left for the war, ten of the older cadets went along. They were of sufficient ma- turity to realize what they were doing. They went with the approval of the General, and the sanction of their parents. All over the country men were eagerly pressing into the service. Colleges, counting-houses, farms, factories, were all furnishing their quota. From the far west came cowboys and ranchmen, inured to hardship by daily toil and danger. From the east came men who had learned courage FIRES OF DESIRE 317 and the love of contest upon university football teams. From the south came youths who had drunk in chivalry and valor with the air they daily breathed. All were Americans, and all were valiant men and true. Stanton soon found himself at Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, along with forty thousand volunteers and regulars that the government was hastily trying to train into an army. The life in camp and upon parade ground was not without its trials to the raw recruits. But with its abun- dance of good food and water, and its absence from danger, it differed widely from what the men who wore the gray and the blue had known there in sixty-three. There, at Missionary Ridge, more than a hundred thousand men had met in mortal combat under the leadership of Rosecrans and Bragg. And a little later, but a few miles away, Bragg and Grant had been locked in deadly conflict in front of Chattanooga. It should all have been holy ground to the men whose fathers had fought and died there. Yet, notwithstanding the absence of war at Camp Thomas, more than four hundred men were to die there from the unaccustomed trials of camp life. And despite the sacred memories which hallowed the ground, and the high mission which had called the men to posts of danger, moral 318 FIRES OF DESIRE blight was to fall upon many a young life. Home restraints were removed. The refining influence of pure womanhood was absent. Within the camp was the canteen. Without the camp were seductive sirens who wore the guise of women, but were not such. It was the same sad, oft-repeated story. Men go out from home to meet privation upon the bat- tle's edge at the call of patriotism. Men leave behind them the refinements of civilization, and labor for their loved ones upon lonely planta- tions and in mining camps and lumber camps. Men turn aside from the sheltered life of rural districts, and brave the toil and temptation of populous cities, to win bread for mothers and wives and children. Higher and holier motives than these there are none. But they find them- selves thereby exposed to deadly dangers. Their country's need of manly men is forgotten. Their home's right to a virtuous life is lost sight of. Because they have heard the call of duty and counted not their lives dear unto themselves, they have gone where destruction lies in wait for them. Even with call of country, and prayer of mother, and pleading of wife, aad prattle of babe ring- ing in their ears, they are damned and dragged to hell for life. Perhaps the tragic pathos of it all will so dim with tears the eyes of the recording FIRES OF DESIRE 319 angel that in another life a better chance will be theirs. Frank Stanton knew by bitter experience the possibility of becoming a castaway whilst labor- ing for others in the noblest of callings. He soon discovered what was going on in the camp to many a man's undoing. It did not take him long to resolve to do all in his power to help the men keep straight. The ten cadets who had come with him from the academy were a good nucleus to begin w r ith. Them he called together for coun- sel. " Boys," he said, " the General has taught you to little purpose if you haven't learned how much clean manhood is worth to our country. It would be better to let Spain depopulate Cuba, and even to shoot our coast cities to pieces, than to have our two hundred thousand volunteers become what you see many of the boys here are likely to become. Most of them will be back home after the war making their communities better or worse. What do you say to trying to improve things here? " " I've noticed that a good many decent chaps are being ruined," the leader of the cadets said after a moment's pause. " I don't know just what we can do to help things, except to keep 320 FIRES OF DESIRE ourselves straight. But I'm willing to try, if you can suggest anything." " Well," responded Stanton, " the first thing is to see that we keep ourselves straight. Then be on the lookout for other fellows who are trying to keep straight too. After that, get together all who will try to keep the doubtful men away from the bad men. I hope to have something more definite to tell you soon. Meanwhile if we are all agreed so far, let us shake hands." The young fellows all entered the compact. It helped save them, and made them a power for good to the end of the war. Very soon Stanton found he was not the only one interested in the manhood of the troops. A large tent was set up in the camp above which floated a pennant bearing the legend ' Y. M. C. A.' It proved a rallying point for all moral and religious influences. A reading and writing room was provided where men could find good literature in abundance, and a place to write home. There were comfortable lounging places and plenty of interesting games. Meetings were conducted daily and nightly with good music, and straightforward talks. The special workers who came with the tent soon proved popular with the men. But almost from the first Stanton was the most influential man about the place. FIRES OF DESIRE 321 It was Frank who formed classes in various elementary branches for the benefit of men whose early opportunities had been scant or unim- proved. It was he who organized a glee-club where many men who had never seen the inside of a college learned with delight a number of rollick- ing college songs. He, also, it was who started an order that called itself < Knights of the Round Table,' because its members were to keep them- selves from all words and deeds which defile manhood by dishonoring womanhood. And it was he who spoke with greatest power in the various services held at the tent. Thus, publicly and privately, the man was proving that a bird once injured by a snare can at least do much to keep others out of the trap. Stanton had been made a captain in a cavalry brigade. His horsemanship, and his acquain- tance with military tactics had helped toward his promotion. Perhaps the influence of the General, exerted in his behalf, had also helped. It was, however, chiefly to his inborn ability to lead men that he owed the honor. As an officer, his in- fluence over the men of the camp was all the more potent. Far and near amongst those who had at heart the moral welfare of the soldiers, the work of Captain Stanton was known and praised. The first call for volunteers had been made in 322 FIRES OF DESIRE April. In the middle of May, nearly a month later, the training camp at Chickamauga had been occupied. After the lapse of another month, the work of training the volunteers was suffi- ciently advanced, there and elsewhere, to make possible the first military expedition to Cuba. It had been a sore trial to fiery editors that nearly two months had elapsed since war was declared, and there had been no battle. True, the victory at Manila had satisfied their belligerent spirits for a day or two. What the public wanted, how- ever, and what the newspapers demanded, was a pitched battle upon Cuban soil. The War De- partment was willing enough to satisfy the pop- ular demand. But a pitched battle without an army is a hard thing to bring about. So every- body had been waiting, perforce, whilst a none too efficient War Department was trying to make an army. In course of time, the regulars had been brought together at Tampa, Florida. Soon after, they were reinforced by three regiments of vol- unteers that were more nearly ready for service than any others. General Sinclair was with the volunteer cavalry regiment with the commission of colonel. Frank was 1 serving under him as cap- tain. At the end of the first week in June the order was issued for the army to proceed to Cuba. FIRES OF DESIRE 323 After a degree of confusion that would have reassured the enemy, could they have beheld it, the army was got aboard the transports at Port Tampa. There it stayed for a whole week, the troops sweltering in the heat upon the crowded boats lying still in the foul waters by the wharves. Some one gifted at ' seem' things at night ' had reported Spanish men-of-war near at hand, ready to destroy the transports as soon as they put out to sea. But at last they were off for Santiago by the middle of June, convoyed by ships of war. " Depend upon it, my boy," the General had said to Frank after grimly watching all the bungling of the embarkation, " the worst foes we'll meet in this war are not the Spaniards. Eed-tape at Washington, and incompetence among the commanding officers with the army will be our deadliest enemies." The old soldier was right. There were many features of the military operations in Cuba of which the less said the better. To the food, and arms, and ammunition supplied the army, all insufficient in quantity or poor in quality, most of the sufferings and deaths among the men must be charged. But that may now be passed by, in the hope that the costly lesson was so well learned by the War Department that it will not have to be repeated. What gives occasion for 324 FIRES OF DESIRE just pride is that our insufficiently-trained and poorly-equipped troops bravely endured the hard- ships and handicaps caused by blundering, and routed the enemy in every engagement. On a bright Monday morning the work of land- ing the troops was begun. The commander had decided to move against Santiago at once. His fifteen thousand officers and soldiers were put ashore at Daiquiri. The following day, the ad- vance was made by the squadron of volunteers and regular cavalry under the leadership of Gen- eral Blank. Frank and the General were with the horseless cavalry thus thrown forward. The latter was well content to follow an officer who Had won fame as a fighter by years of hard service in the Confederacy. At night they halted at Siboney, and decided upon the move to be made the next day. Before dawn the men were on the march again. In two columns they moved along separate roads. As they advanced, the intense heat began to beat men down to the earth. It reminded Frank of India. In fact, ever since he had entered Florida, the sight of the sandy wastes, and swamps and palms and tropical fruits had caused an old pain to gnaw at his heart more sharply than usual. But his stay amid like scenes and conditions in India had apparently inured him to the heat. FIRES OF DESIRE 325 He pressed resolutely forward along the rough mountain trail, shouting words of encouragement to his men. Suddenly, deadly volleys were poured into the advancing lines by unseen foes. Screened by the dense vegetation, unrevealed by their smokeless powder, the Spaniards were cutting down their invaders with deadly Mauser bullets. But the advance was not checked. Firing as they moved forward, the two columns at last met. Their fire soon silenced and put to flight the enemy. The skirmish had won Los Guasimas, though sixteen brave Americans had fallen to rise no more, and more than two score had been wounded. It was a good beginning. Had the advantage gained been followed up at once, the American army might have been before the walls of San- tiago within tw 7 o days. Days of delay were al- lowed to intervene, during which the Spaniards were constructing strong defences whose reduc- tion would later cost brave lives. On the last day of June another advance was begun. Pressing forward all night, the army was brought before the lines and fortifications at El Caney on the morning of the first day of July. What with insufficient guns, and powder whose smoke showed the enemy where to concentrate their fire, the reduction of El Caney cost a day's 326 FIRES OF DESIRE hard fighting, and near a hundred lives, besides upwards of three hundred wounded men. But the pluck and good fighting of the men won the day gloriously against all odds. The fort was paved with dead men when it was taken, and with its fall Spain lost five hundred troops in dead and wounded and prisoners. Meanwhile, another division of the army was engaged in the reduction of San Juan. Most of the leading generals were too ill to take part in th'e fight that first day of July. The severity of the climate was proving rather too much for veterans of the Civil War. More than a quarter of a century had not left them unscathed in its flight. Even valiant General Blank had become dangerously ill, and had been forbidden by the surgeons to leave his tent. When the roar of the battle sounded in his ears, he could restrain him- self no longer. Getting into an ambulance, he set out for the scene of battle, two miles distant. When half-way to the front the ambulance halted to let some men pass, bearing litters with wounded men on them. " Why do you stop? " asked the sick man, look- ing out. Then he saw the litters, and the bearers toiling along with them, and the wounded men lying un- der the pitiless rays of the fierce noontide sun. FIRES OF DESIRE 327 " Here, bless my soul !" he cried, " Let me out of this !" Though he staggered, and had to be helped, he got out of the ambulance. " Now men," he called to the litter bearers, " put your litters in here, and get those poor fellows to the rear as quick as you can." When his order was obeyed he called for a horse and mounted it with difficulty. The troops had seen the act and caught its meaning. As the gray-haired general rode forward, frantic cheers burst forth from his men, to be taken up by man after man, until their loud hurrahs followed the old soldier all down the line. It was such dis- regard of personal danger that had inspired the troops of the dashing cavalry leader when he was a young man wearing the gray. No less effective was it then in its influence over the boys in blue. They were having hard work. Infantry and unmounted cavalry were being put to tasks that should have been done by artillery. Again, blundering, black powder, and absence of heavy guns were doing what they could to make courage vain. But again, the blue lines moved forward. Steady fighting under heavy fire, dauntless charges up the slopes of a fortified hill, carried the heights of San Juan as they did El Caney. By night the enemy had fled and the tired and 328 FIRES OF DESIRE hungry men, from whose ranks more than six- teen hundred officers and men had fallen dead or wounded, occupied the heights their valor had won. They were within four miles of Santiago. The men had marched all the night before over rough roads or through a pathless tangle of woods. They had fought all day in the terrible heat. There was to be no rest for them that night, for they must intrench themselves before the enemy could return to dislodge them. Yet there was very little food for them. An abundance of it was somewhere, perhaps with the smokeless powder and heavy guns, tangled up in red-tape that would keep it safe. The General, in his capacity of colonel, had been able to discover no rations for his men. " My boy," he said, coming upon Frank as he was directing the labors of his company, " doesn't this remind you of an Indian famine? " " It has rather a lean look," Frank responded. " Well, I find that our country seems to have made not the least provision in the world for our stomachs," the General said rather ruefully. " There is only one other chance. I am going now to see whether Spain has been any more thought- ful." His search was rewarded, and his men fed that FIRES OF DESIRE 329 night on the food the Spaniards had left behind in their flight. Morning brought an attack from the enemy. Their fire continued all day, while the men fought and worked in a drenching rain. Even after dark the Spaniards made another effort to regain the ground they had lost the day before. It was useless. What had been bravely won was stub- bornly held. Back among the sick and the wounded were the senior generals of the army. They knew their men were nearly worn out, that food was scarce, that reinforcements were far away. There was not in their blood the confidence begotten by val- orous struggle against heavy odds. Doubt was darkening their counsels. They were actually preparing to abandon the vantage ground pur- chased by so much priceless blood, and beat a re- treat to the coast. The commanding officer even sent a dispatch to Washington announcing this intention. The War Department was filled with dismay. Intrepid General Blank, supported by many of the young officers, was determinedly op- posing such unsoldierly folly. What the outcome would have been no one can say, if retreating had not been a game at which two could play. Reading a message of doom in the advance of the American army, the Spanish 330 FIRES OF DESIRE admiral, who had long been penned up in Santi- ago harbor, decided to make a dash for liberty. Thus it happened that while the weary troops were resting in the trenches, that hot Sunday morning, the boom of mighty guns rolled up the heights of San Juan. The soldiers knew that the sailors were hard at work. Were their battleships trying to force their way into Santiago harbor? Was the American fleet battling with the Spaniards out on the open sea? Which was winning? What would be the result? Thus rumor and speculation went on to the con- tinuous thunder of the distant guns. At length it was known that, after four hours' superb work, the American fleet had left every one of the stately Spanish ships lying as ghastly, half-submerged wrecks along the Cuban coast. Not an American ship was lost; only one man had been killed. The miracle of Manila Bay had been repeated at Santiago, under circumstances so impressive that it could not be set down to pure good luck by complacent critics. It was decided by the generals that the troops should not retreat to the coast. They stayed where they were and celebrated the Fourth of July, the soldiers' victory at San Juan, and the sailors' victory at Santiago harbor, all in one. After that it was not long till the end. Within FIRES OF DESIRE 331 a few days Santiago was stormed by the combined American land and sea forces. Another few days and the Spanish general surrendered. A protocol suspended all hostilities a month later, and be- fore the end of September the volunteers were being mustered out. The Spanish American war, with its humiliating blunders, and its heroic achievements, went into history. It was while leading his men at the storming of the city that Frank Stanton felt something sud- denly strike him. A stinging pain ate its burning way clear through him just below his left shoul- der. Everything swam before his eyes. There was in his ears a confused mingling of shrieking shells and victorious shouts. Then came black- ness, and silence. 332 FIRES OF DESIRE CHAPTER XIX STRONG AS DEATH A HOT wind was blowing through the extempor- ized hospital where many wounded men were ly- ing. Without, the palm trees were rustling in the breeze. Frank came to a realization of it very slowly. It seemed to him that he was in India. He was feverish from his wound. Between con- sciousness and delirium, he was groping about for some familiar sight or sound from which he could get his bearings. The effort was vain, for he soon lost himself altogether in troubled sleep. Awaking again, he found the room in semi- darkness. White figures were moving noiselessly about in the gloom. Groans were breaking the stillness of the night. He started up, but fell weakly back upon the pillow with a terrible pain through his body. Was he dead or dying? While asleep he thought Mabel had come to him, and that they were happy together in each other's love FIRES OF DESIRE 333 at the old homestead. Where was she, and what Had become of that happiness? A slight, white-robed figure came to him, and her face seemed dark as it leaned over him. His head was swimming. It was Radha, and she pointed him to a misty form far away that he knew was Mabel. Then her voice repeated dis- tinctly words he had heard her use long ago " Night will quickly pass, fair will be the dawn. The sun will rise in splendor, and the beautiful lilies will unfold themselves." How gentle seemed her voice, soft and musical as the murmur of water brooks. Was she pro- phesying of a fair day yet to come to him and his beloved? That beautiful, mist-wreathed form seemed to be drawing nearer. The Indian girl was speaking again. Now her face was darkened by passion, and her voice quivered with bitter scorn " Thus dreamed a bee, sleeping in a flower. But while it dreamed there came that way an elephant and crushed it as it lay." Mabel's beautiful face shone white and pain- drawn through the mantling mists. Then, while he stretched out his arms and tried to go to her, she faded utterly away with a long-drawn wail. Frank started up with a cry. Again the pain 334 FIRES OF DESIRE darted through his shoulder, and he came to him- self. " You must lie still; you are wounded," a calm voice said to him. A firm, cool hand pressed his brow. He saw a slender woman beside the cot. A red cross showed upon the sleeve of her white dress. It was a nurse, and not Kadha. " Was any one else here? What was that cry I heard? " he asked. " No one else had been near your cot for some time," she replied. " The cries you hear are from wounded men." It all came back to him then. He knew he had fallen in the capture of Santiago, and was then lying in a hospital. " You will get along all right if you are quiet," the nurse said reassuringly. The piece of shell that struck you passed clean through your shoul- der. Your wound has been dressed. Drink this, and try to sleep." She pressed an invalid's cup to his lips. He drank the broth, and closed his eyes. He had been dreaming in his delirium. But the reality to which he had awakened was it not as bad as the dream? In his weakness it seemed to him he had so little for which to live that he wondered why the missile had not veered a little FIRES OF DESIRE 335 and cut the cord of life. All the bright dreams of his youth had ended as sadly as had the bee's. A few days later, Stanton was removed to the transport Seneca. All the wounded who could be moved were to be sent home. Anticipating worse battles in the near future, the commander of the army would not let the hospital ship go. Someone made a mistake. The Seneca was over- crowded. Doctors were too few. The supply of ice and delicacies was not sufficient. The voy- age to Governor's Island, New York, was a long- drawn agony to the wounded men. Terrible and needless suffering was entailed which retarded the recovery of all, and sealed the doom of many. Stanton bore the hardships of the trip un- complainingly. Nothing seemed to matter much any more. Even the wild enthusiasm of the crowd gathered to welcome home the brave suf- ferers interested him but little. Through the long weeks that he lay in the hospital waiting for his wound to heal and his strength to come back, his mind continually wandered amid the ruins of his life. He was dwelling in thought in the burial places of his hopes. No angel forms came to roll away the stone from their sepulcher. No voice divine bade the dead to live again. Yet his beloved had passed that way, though he knew it not. 336 FIRES OF DESIRE Mabel Everest had landed at New York. Her brother, who had been filled with gloomy fore- bodings about her, was overjoyed to find her look- ing so well. The voyage had done wonders for her. " Upon my honor, little Sis," he said, as he looked her over with satisfaction, " I expected you to look like those famine specimens the re- ligious papers have been showing us." They went on at once to Lexington. The girl was given a royal welcome by old friends and relatives. It was not easy, though, to take up the old life again. Every thing seemed changed. .Some friends were married and gone. A few were dead. All seemed different from what they had been. Mabel did not know it, but the great- est change was in herself. That, and the unex- plained mystery which had hung about her life for many months, fixed a gulf between her soul and her once familiar friends. No one mentioned Frank's name in her pres- ence. She longed to inquire about him, but could not trust herself to speak. That he had gone to the war, she had learned from the papers. Of his work with the men at Camp Thomas, the re- port had reached her. It was balm to her wounded heart to know of his noble life. But FIRES OF DESIRE 337 during her voyage she had missed the papers, and so lost all trace of Frank's movements. He had written to her once while he was in Chicago. It was an answer to the note she had left for him. Penitent and despondent in tone, it assured her that he did not blame her for giving him up and fleeing from him. She had noted with a pang that he did not express any hope or desire that their lives might yet come together again. After Radha's death, she had faithfully dis- charged the solemn obligation under which the dying girl had placed her. It was a heavy task that had been laid upon her. Had she then given any sign to the man that he was yet lord of her heart, it would have seemed to her treason to her friend just dead. Stanton's answer to that letter had been wrung from a manly heart, heroically bearing the con- sequence of its own folly. It told of the new life begun at the Academy, and of high resolves to make the future atone for the past as far as possible. But it ventured to breathe no word of love or hope concerning her. The spirit of the wronged girl seemed to stand between them. He feared to speak to one who had pronounced their lives sundered by his union with another. Mabel knew not what new plans might have 338 FIRES OF DESIRE come into the man's heart. Perhaps he had turned to some one else, since she had declared their old relation was at an end. So a maidenly reserve had sealed her lips. She could no more invite him back to the place he once had held than she could at first have asked him to marry her. Daily the girl scanned the papers, hoping to find some mention of Frank. It was not very long after her arrival home that her search was rewarded. Bold head-lines announced that Cap- tain Stanton had returned to his native city. A leading article told at length of his useful life in camp, and of his brilliant services in the field. There was a graphic description of his heroism at the capture of Santiago, followed by an ac- count of his fall at the head of his men, and the long days since spent in recovering from his wound. And now he had reached his home, so weak that he had been obliged to go to the hos- pital. There the doctors had discovered that he was in the grip of typhoid fever. There was more in the article words of well- merited praise and appreciation. But Mabel could not then see them. She longed to go at once to the sick man. Yet she dared not, without his invitation. Most likely he was as ignorant of her whereabouts as she had been of his. FIRES OF DESIRE 339 Hastily putting on her hat, she took a car and went down town. There she bought some flowers the rich, red Jacqueminots that Frank had al- ways loved. She waited while they were made ready to send. Then she gave them to a mes- senger boy, with directions to take them to the hospital, see that they were delivered at once, and wait for any answer that there might be. They were not the first flowers that Frank had received that morning. The doctor had ap- prised some of his friends of his arrival the night before. He looked at them rather list- lessly and took the accompanying card from the nurse's hand. " To welcome you home and wish you a speedy recovery," was scribbled upon it with lead pencil. Stanton turned the card over to see the name. Weak as he was, the joyous surprise of it sent the blood to his face until it rivaled the color of the roses. Then it receded and left him so deathly white that the nurse was alarmed. " Can I get a messenger boy?" he asked her in a voice that shook in spite of his efforts to con- trol it. " Yes," answered the nurse, " the boy who brought these is waiting." " Let me have a pencil and paper and enve- lope," he requested. 340 FIRES OF DESIRE Slowly and painfully, he wrote a few words, sealed and directed the envelope. " Tell the boy to hurry, please," he said as he gave the note to the woman. The nurse did as she was bidden, and then telephoned the doctor to know what she should henceforth do with notes for their patient. The doctor said he would be there in a few minutes and consider the matter. Having hurried home Mabel had asked her brother's wife to order the carriage and to get ready to drive with her. Mrs. Everest agreed without question or comment. She, too, had seen the morning paper, and thought she understood the girl's eager and restless movements. " Will he ask me to come to him? " Mabel was questioning herself. " He surely will, if only because we once were friends." The anxious moments of waiting were passed in changing hat and dress for others more elegant and becoming. It was such a satisfaction to have the mirror tell her that the sickly pallor of India was all gone. To be able to put on that dainty fall hat, with its rich braid and velvet, and its bright autumn leaves how much better it was than a sola topi ! When the messenger rang the bell he was star- FIRES OF DESIRE 341 tied by the suddenness and vigor with which the door flew open. " Gee! but she must think a heap of that sick cove!" was his mental comment, as he watched the girl's flushed face, and her eager scanning of the note. " Great day, but she's a peach ! " he muttered to himself as he went down the walk. "Wish I was that Cap'n, if he is in the horsepital." The liberal reward which the girl had given him had awakened him to an appreciation of her charms. Mabel found the note brief but eminently sat- isfactory. " My own dear girl Can you come? Frank." That was all, but it was enough. She kissed the paper impulsively, and hid it in her bosom. " Mary, are you ready? " she called up the stairs to her sister. The carriage was waiting at the curb. " I'll be there in a minute, dear," Mrs. Ever- est answered. It is not always easy for a mother and house- wife to go out for a morning drive on short no- tice. Several minutes passed before she finally joined the impatient girl at the door. " To the Good Samaritan," Mabel directed the driver, and the horses moved off at a brisk trot. Mrs. Everest tried to make conversation for a 342 FIRES OF DESIRE diversion. She saw that the girl's color was coming and going, and that her fingers were twitching nervously. A monologue, with occa- sional monosyllables interspersed, was all that came of the effort. They were soon at the hospital. A portly colored woman ushered them into the office and waddled leisurely away to find whether visitors could see Captain Stanton. In due time, an at- tendant appeared to say that the Captain was just having a fever bath, but they could go up and wait in the corridor. So they toiled up to the third floor, and sat looking out of the window at the end of the hall. After half an hour, which seemed to Mabel more like half a day, the doctor came down the hall and spoke to the ladies. Yes, certainly, Miss Everest could see his patient. But he was very weak and his temperature persisted in rising. She must try not to excite him. He must not talk much, and she could not stay long. The nurse had followed the doctor from the room with her arms full of blankets and sheets, and other things. She now came to conduct Mabel to the sick man. Mrs. Everest and the doctor sat together, discussing the case. Ushering Mabel into the room, the nurse with- drew and closed the door. FIRES OF DESIRE 343 In the darkened room the girl saw the white bed, and upon its pillow, the thin sallow face of a man who was looking at her with haggard, sunken eyes. " Oh, my poor boy," she cried, as she saw that changed face. She was on her knees at the bed- side. " I was afraid you would not come," he said, as his thin, hot hands closed upon hers, and his eyes searched her face. " How could you doubt me? " she asked. " The bitter past," he said in a voice weak, and dead tired. " My ruined life. What right had I to hope you would come? " " Listen," she said. Then she repeated words that had been a guiding star to her through many dark and doubtful nights ' The sin that practice burns into the blood, And not the one dark hour which brings remorse, Will brand us, after, of whose fold we be.' " Say it again," he eagerly demanded. She repeated the lines, slowly and distinctly. "Can you forgive all, then?" he asked, while his grasp tightened convulsively upon her hands. " All," she answered. " Thank God," he murmured fervently, and lay still for a moment with closed eyes. 344 FIRES OF DESIRE. The girl said softly, leaning over him ' Love is strong as death ; Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can the floods drown it.' Releasing her hands, he unfastened his collar. Then he drew forth a narrow ribbon. Upon it was suspended a ring. It was the diamond Mabel had returned to him. " I have worn it all the time," he said, smiling as she watched him. " There were nights in Chicago when I used to walk the floor and crush this stone into my flesh. It helped me." He was fumbling at the ribbon with shaking hands. She had to help him take the ring off. To his look of inquiry and entreaty as he took her tiand, she nodded her head and smiled at him through her tears. He slipped the ring upon her finger and kissed it and her hand. She bent her head and kissed his lips. When the doctor tapped at the door to say it was time for his patient to be left to himself, Stanton was lying very still, and the girl was sitting by the bed holding his hand. The phy- sician looked at the sick man's face with satis- faction. He saw on it a new look of contentment and determination. " You must come again, Miss Everest," he said. " You are good medicine for the Captain." j You must come again, Miss Everest.' FIRES OF DESIRE 345 Long days of anxiety followed. The fever ran its slow course. Frank had been so weakened by long illness from his wound that there was little power of resistance left in him. Yet the deter- mination to live was so strong in him since the day of his new betrothal that it did wonders for him. The crisis came. His life trembled upon the very abyss of death. He pressed so close the edge of the precipice that the watchers about his bed. held their breath. He paused upon that narrow margin. Then he turned back toward life. Early in the days of his convalescence Mr. Everest was for carrying Frank away to his home. " Why, man," he protested to the implacable doctor, " my women folk can do more for him than a whole army of your automatic nurses." " I have reason to have great faith in the abil- ity of your women folk to help my patient," the doctor replied blandly. " But I know he will soon be as ravenous as a starved wolf. The good ladies of your house would probably let him have anything he wants. No, thank you ; I don't care to risk a relapse." So they had to wait and make the best of it. Mabel was happy and patient. Frank was im- patient and happy. Between them, they made 346 FIRES OF DESIRE the days pass somehow, until the doctor set Frank free. There was no resisting Mr. Everest's hospital- ity. Frank was borne away home, to stay till after Christmas. That was but a week off. The gates of Paradise had swung wide open before the man. With the returning force of youthful health pulsing through his veins, and the music of glad hope ringing in his heart, he was entering into the high heritage of chastened and victorious manhood. Christmas came with great good cheer. The Everest home was bright with the season's joys, and with other happiness that the coming and going of seasons could not change. After that, Frank went away to see his old friend in the hill country of Virginia. He had some plans he must perfect. Then he would come for his bride. FIRES OF DESIRE 347 CHAPTER XX LOVE'S CORONATION VARIOUS opportunities were beckoning to Stan- ton as he prepared to take up the tasks of life again. His power over men had become widely enough known to have him sought out. He chose to go back to his work with the man who had be- friended him in his hour of dire need. General Sinclair had resumed the direction of the Academy. Sturdy old soldier that he was, his rough experience in Cuba had left him but little the worse for wear. The cadets who had gone into the army were back too; all save the one who had died of fever at Camp Thomas, and the two who were sleeping their last sleep upon the field of glory. The General and the soldier boys had been given a rousing welcome by all the cadets when they returned. They were prepar- ing to do the like for Stanton upon his arrival. The evening after his return the General and 348 FIRES OF DESIRE Frank were sitting together by the fireside. The boys had done themselves proud all the afternoon in receiving back their friend and instructor. It was now time for the two men to talk quietly together. " My boy," said the older man, " you certainly must admit that there is no need to keep you on probation any longer. You know something of the opportunities here. Are you willing to make this your life-work? Will you agree to take the superintendency of the Academy when I give it up?" " General," answered Stanton, " I am anxious to make this my life-work. As for succeeding you, no man could ask a higher honor than to become worthy to do so. When you are ready to pass the work on to another, I shall be happy if you think me fit to take it." The General flushed with pleasure and satis- faction. " I certainly am glad to hear you say that, sir," he said, laying his hand affectionately on the young man's shoulder. " It relieves me of a serious problem. Never before you came had I found a man to whom I was sure I could trust this work. I shall hold you to your promise be- fore very long now." True to his old habit of reticence, Frank had FIRES OF DESIRE 349 sent his friend no word of his approaching mar- riage. He told him about it that night. When he spoke of how the shadow of his sin had fallen between him and his beloved, he did so with downcast eyes. But as he went on to tell how Mabel had loved him in spite of it all, and how she had forgiven him, his face glowed and he looked up proudly. " So she is coming to be with me here. I am not worthy; I do not know how she can do it. But it is true, and I am a happy man." " I congratulate you, my boy," said the General warmly shaking Frank's hand. l( A man can know no greater happiness in life than to win a queenly woman. As for the past never bring it up again. You have learned its lessons. Let it go." " There are some things a man can never for- get," he answered sadly. " There must always be bitterness in my cup of joy. My mother, little Kadha, Mabel's cruel trial no, I cannot forget. Life can never be the same." The black pall had fallen upon him again. It ever would at the thought of the past. He bowed his head upon his hands. " But I am facing the future now," he said more brightly after a moment. " My noble girl has forgiven the past. Truly ' love's strength 350 FIRES OF DESIRE standeth in love's sacrifice.' Her sacrifice is an offering that redeems my life." There was silence in the room. The young man was thinking of the bright future. General Sin- clair was looking at the portrait of the bride he had left so long ago in all her fresh young beauty left to meet no more in life. His keen eyes glowed beneath his white brows with the fires of a love that three and a half decades of separation had not quenched. He inhaled the fragrance of flowers that had withered five and thirty years agone. To retain their perfume thus long, they must have been of rare excellence in the far-off time before ruthless hands tore them away, and the iron shod feet of war trampled them to death. At length the old man sighed and shook off his revery. His voice was gentle as a woman's when he spoke. " You must bring your dear girl here to our home until you can build one of your own. Sis- ter and I would be delighted to keep you both al- ways, but that will not be best. You must build a nest for your bird." In after years it was all as they planned it that night. Across the parade ground the new house arose in the grove of stately trees. The young man succeeded the old General in the work of training stalwart men for the South. Every FIRES OF DESIRE 351 room and corridor of the new house rang with the laughter of merry children. A beautiful woman so won the hearts of the lads who fell under the sweet influence of her life, that she was known wherever the Academy boys went as " Queen of the Cadets." But that is a dip into the future the future where ranged Frank's dreams as he sat with the General that night. In February Stanton went back to Lexington to claim his bride. It was her fancy to be wed upon St. Valentine's Day. The day had been bright, and the night was crisp and clear when the guests came merrily to the Everest home. Only the nearest relatives and friends of the families were invited. Mrs. Everest took her place at the piano and began to play the wedding-march. Down the broad stairway little Tom Everest and his sister Elsie came, scattering flowers before them. They were followed by the maid of honor and grooms- man, Mabel's pretty cousin from Georgetown, and Frank's old college chum. Then came the bride and groom he tall and straight, with the rich flush of new-found health upon his handsome face she with downcast eyes, radiant in the beauty of her perfect womanhood. Beneath a bower of flowers waited the gray- haired pastor who had known them both from 352 FIRES OF DESIRE babyhood. Before bim the bridal party paused, while the notes of the wedding march grew softer and softer, until they gradually ceased. Mr. Everest stepped forward to give away the bride. Voices sounded through the silent room in ad- monition and question, in response and vow. The minister raised his hands toward heaven in invocation, and laid them upon the heads of the man and woman in benediction. The piano sounded again and children's voices took up the notes of the wedding chorus. Friends pressed forward with handshakes and kisses and congratulations and best wishes for Mr. and Mrs. Stanton. The supper was over and the guests were gone. Accompanied by her bridesmaid, Mabel had gone to her room. It was her wish, and that was law, to remain in the old home for a few days. In the room of her girlhood's joys, where she had lain through the live-long night sleepless from happiness when she first knew that her heart's idol had chosen her as his own, where she had been sleepless from anguish when she thought she had lost him there in the chamber of love's dream she would begin her wedded life. The bridesmaid left the room and Mrs. Ever- est called down the stairway to Frank to come. He came quickly through the door and softly FIRES OF DESIRE 353 closed it. Then he stood still and looked about him. A fire was crackling and dancing in the grate. Upon mantel and chiffonier and table, stood waxen tapers in candlesticks of crystal and silver. In their soft light were revealed the per- fect appointments of a room that had come to reflect the simple purity of the life it so long had sheltered. And then yes, the inner shrine of the sanc- tuary, for every temple must have its holy of holies, where dwells the Presence he saw the snowy bed, and beside it a table which held a great bowl of perfect Jacqueminots. On the bed> amid its pure white folds, lay his bride. Her hands were beneath her head, and over the white- ness of her arms, and upon the pillow her glo- rious hair shone like a halo. Upon her breast, amid the lace of her gown, there lay a deep red rcse. Their eyes met. The bride smiled and stretched out her arms to the man. He went swiftly to her side, and fell upon his knees. He took her hands in his. Only his eyes spoke as the love- light burned in their deep depths. " Do you like me? " she archly asked at length. He put his arms about her, and kissed her lips and brow, again and again. 354 FIRES OF DESIRE " My darling," he cried in a low, vibrant voice. " My beautiful bride ; mine forever." It was love's coronation. In its triumph shared the mother whose last words were words of supplication for her boy, and the dark little stranger of far Bengal who had been willing to be effaced for the good of the man she adored, and the maiden whose love had lived on through the darkness until the coming of the day of vic- tory. THE ROMANCE OF A POET HIGHLAND MARY By CLAYTON MACKENZIE LEGGE The Sweetest Story Ever Told Re-Told in a New Way A novel of more than ordinary interest, portraying many important characters and telling for the first time in fiction the sweet love story of "Bobby Burns" and Highland Mary. ILLUSTRATED ... CLOTH BOUND Price $1.50 THE C ML CLARK PUBLISHING CO. BOSTON, MASS. 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